site.btaStoimen Stoilov Exhibition to Open at Vejdi Art Gallery in Sofia

An exhibition by artist Stoimen Stoilov will be shown at the Vejdi Art Gallery in Sofia. It will open on April 10, the hosts of the event said on Friday.

"Stoimen Stoilov is of that high bar of artists that is hard to reach in terms of perfection of expression and professionalism in image. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest masters of our time," said former culture minister Vejdi Rashidov, quoted by the Gallery.

Some of Stoilov's most characteristic oil paintings will be on display in the exhibition.

Prof. Stoilov was born in Varna in 1944. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia and started the International Print Biennial Varna - the first in Bulgaria and one of the ten oldest events for graphic art in Europe. In 1991, Stoilov received the Gottfried von Herder Prize from the University of Vienna. Later that year, his studio in Varna was burnt to the ground and numerous works were lost. He settled in Vienna afterwards.

In 2009, Austria conferred upon him the title of Professor in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the development of its culture and arts. In 2010, Stoilov was awarded Bulgaria's Order of the Balkan Range, First Class. In 2024, he received the Bulgarian Culture Ministry's highest honour, the Golden Age Award, for his contribution to culture and art.

Following a competition, Stoilov was selected to artistically commemorate an anniversary of the Vienna Metro. His artwork features over 200 iconic figures of the city, from the Habsburgs to Mozart, Strauss, Freud and Elias Canetti, up to the present day.

The artist has held solo exhibitions at Palais Porcia and the Egon Schiele Museum in Austria, at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, CT, in Perth, Western Australia, and across Europe.