site.btaHeirs of Georgi Baev Open Exhibition in Burgas

An exhibition on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous Burgas artist Georgi Baev was opened on Friday in the Burgas Art Gallery and the house-museum of the artist in the seaside city, said Gallery Director Georgi Dinev.

The presented paintings show different periods of the author's work, including both his characteristic paintings, as well as lithographs, drawings and watercolour works, which are not so popular among the general public. At the centre of the exhibition is a painting by Baev, in which the artist has inserted the burned frame of his work, which survived the fire of his studio in 1983.

The exhibition was already presented on a larger scale at the National Academy of Arts and the Dechko Uzunov Gallery in Sofia, as well as in Plovdiv. The opening in Burgas marks the end of a Burgas Art Gallery project, part of which was the publication of a luxurious bilingual catalog with the paintings of Baev. The opening was attended by art critic Prof Marin Dobrev from the Veliko Tarnovo University, Burgas Deputy Mayor for Culture Diana Savateva and one of the artist's sons, Ivo Baev.

Dobrev defined the artist Baev as a phenomenon, saying that he was one of those personalities who opened new horizons back in the 50s and 60s. "He was the person we rank among the greatest masters of the seascape, and those who have felt the sea can be counted on the fingers of one hand in the entire history of modern Bulgarian art. He simply gave us a new perspective on the subject of the sea", Dobrev emphasised. He pointed out that the artist never painted for himself and that few people have been able to discover the very personal connection between the artist and the sea that is hidden in his paintings.

Dobrev stressed that the happiness of artists is that they are alive as long as their works are alive. "Here we celebrate 100 years since the birth of an artist who is here among us. In those years he crossed the barriers and showed us that the tree can be red, the sea can be pink, and the canvases can be blue or green, because fine art is not influenced by the laws of physics, but by those of the heart and emotion," Dobrev said.

"I miss my father. I miss him, my brother, my grandchildren. This stupid story that time heals is nonsense. Not only does it not heal, but the more time passes, the more I understand what my father meant to me. Not because we are one blood, but because he is a teacher and a beacon which at night, if I feel lost, is a guiding light for me," Ivo Baev commented.

He noted that his father is missed by his friends, by those who are alive, by his fellow artists with whom he loved to communicate. "He is missed in the public sphere, in which to point out the mediocre one who don't deserve help. He is also missed in the National Assembly, where he did not belong, but where he was for a short time. He is missed a lot in Burgas, but his art is here," Baev noted. He invited those present to take one of the paintings home in their hearts and pour themselves a glass of wine. "He will feel this and be happy," he said.