This year marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Petrov – one of most remarkable and valuable talents, having contributed to the history of Bulgarian art with his innovative approach. Nikola Petrov’s paintings belong to the category of artworks that are still relevant in the present day, also looking ahead into the future. His extraordinary gift and skill, his short life and untimely death – he died when he was only 35 – turned him into a legend enveloped in mysticism. This mysticism stems from his remarkable life story. It is an intense, over-eventful story. Qualitative changes, having occurred within short time periods, are easy to spot in various artworks of his.

This artistic dynamics started very early, namely in his student years. He was only 22, when became a founding member of the “Modern Art” Association in 1903. In the same year he received a state grant and visited Rome. From this point on, he would participate every year in various events held in Sofia, Belgrade, Liège, London, Zagreb, Munich, Venice, Rome, Berlin. In addition to the multitude of drawings, watercolor and oil paintings, Nikola Petrov also illustrated works by Pencho Slaveykov and Todor Vlaykov, and created the mural composition “Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary” in the northern altar of the “Alexander Nevski” Cathedral. His painting “Lions’ Bridge in the City of Sofia”, featured at an international exhibition in Rome in 1911, was bought by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome. In the same year his painting “St. Sofia Church” was the first one of his paintings to be bought by the Bulgarian state.

His life story and artistic career will always feel incomplete because of what failed to be created by a remarkable talent within a life cut short. A talent and a life that could have given many a new direction in Bulgarian art, had they had more time on this earth.

The exhibition features works belonging to the Sofia City Art Gallery, the National Art Gallery, the National Academy of Arts, the Sofia History Museum, the “Nikola Petrov” Vidin City Art Gallery, the Plovdiv City Art Gallery, the “Ivan Funev” Vratsa City Art Gallery, the Stara Zagora City Art Gallery, the National Museum of Military History, the National Museum of Literature, the “Svetlin Rousev” Studio-Collection, Sofia, the “Svetlin Rousev” Art Gallery-Donation, City of Pleven, the “Indzhov” Collection, the “Zhivko Chubriev” Collection and other private collections.

An exhibition catalogue is available, published with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the “Culture” Directorate of the Sofia City Municipal Council.