The 115^th birth anniversary of renowned Bulgarian artist Academician Dechko Uzunov is a good reason to take a closer look into some of his works. The exhibition is running at the National Palace of Culture between June 6 and 25. The works included in the exposition are part of the gallery which bears his name. The exhibition fund is exceptionally rich - over 13 thousand works were granted to the Sofia Municipality from relatives-mainly nephews who, like Dechko Uzunov, are also artists. Dechko Uzunov gallery is situated in his studio right behind his house. “My dream is to show at least half of what we have in our fund”, says in an interview for Radio Bulgaria the curator of the gallery Boryana Pavlova. The museum consists of over 200 oil paintings, monumental compositions, water-color paintings, etc.

“We display here works united under the common title Insight”, specifies Boryana Pavlova “We do stock-taking of Decho Uzunov’s works each year and we found out that he somehow foresaw the future in some of his water-color and oil paintings. He predicted the global warming in some of his works and the problems people would face due to their failure to preserve the environment. He drew astronauts, flying objects in Space and angels, too. Perhaps he had the insight into things that were about to happen in the future. This was how this exhibition was born. There is a remarkable painting at this exhibition: a self portrait surrounded by Saints. Saint George who kills the dragon is on one side of the renowned Bulgarian artist and Saint Demetrius who kills the infidel stays on his other side. The artists himself carries on painting, hoping he would save the world with his works.”

People can also read some of Dechko Uzunov’s texts written by the artist who reached venerable age and accumulated a lot of wisdom in himself. Here is what one of his texts reads: “Would everything created since time immemorial until present days die in a blink of an eye? The Earth has its revenge, because we suck out the sap of life from its wombs. Explosions and greedy people destroyed the eternal peace and balance-from the hot lava all the way to the calm waves of the oceans. The air became suffocating and poisonous. Earth is no longer our home and we headed towards Space.”

Dechko Uzunov was born at the very end of the 19^th century. His road in art was very long and happy. He studied at the Munich Academy, but graduated from the Bulgarian Art Academy later. He became a Professor when he was only thirty seven. He served as a rector of the academy over the years and a director of the National Art Academy, too. He was also the Chairman of the Association of the Bulgarian Artists and held one-man exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad. In 1976 Uzunov was appointed Chairman of the International Association of Art with UNESCO. He was an honorary member of the Mexican and the Russian Art Academies. In 1999, thirteen years after his death, Dechko Uzunov was announced a World Personality of the Year by UNESCO on occasion of his 100^th birth anniversary. Over 120 exhibitions with some of his most popular works were organized after the establishment of the Dechko Uzunov Gallery and Museum in Bulgaria and abroad. One of the last exhibitions was held in May, 2014 at the European Commission Representation in Sofia. Over five thousand people visited the exhibition during the European Night of the Museums in Sofia. The current exhibition stands in Sofia’s support to become European Capital of Culture in 2019.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

Photos: Veneta Pavlova