92. Karlovy Vary Market [1958]
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92. Karlovy Vary Market [1958]
1891, Razgrad - 1962, Sofia
Estimate:
EUR 5.000 - 8.000
Sold
EUR 15.000
маслени бои върху платно, 47.5 x 59.5 cm, 47,5 × 59,5 cm, signed bottom right, in brown, "Д. Дечев"
Research information
The work is reproduced in Raynov, Bogomil, "Danail Dechev", published by Bulgarian Artist, Sofia, 1972, no. 157 under the title "Karlovski Pazar" dated 1958.
Notes
on the back an oil composition
Danail Dechev is likely one of the most highly regarded Bulgarian landscape painters, despite not having formal academic training in painting. Nevertheless, together with the work of Nikola Tanev, Dechev’s paintings are often considered foundational for the introduction of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism into Bulgarian art history.
The artist’s work is most often associated with plein-air painting, light and air in his compositions, a lively and expressive painterly technique, and a sense of poetic interpretation of Bulgarian nature in his landscapes. In 1932, Dechev visited the Louvre in Paris, where he studied the works of the great masters. However, rather than focusing on the Impressionists with whom his art is most frequently compared, he was most strongly impressed by the Old Masters. He himself wrote: “I was most deeply impressed by the works of Corot and Ruisdael. They seemed unattainable to me. From them I learned that to be a great artist, one must first of all be born one — to interpret one’s own land and one’s own people.”
Such ideas are especially evident in the second half of his career, after 1940. During this period, the artist devoted great attention to the relationship between man and land, the native landscape, and everyday rural life. It is also during this time that his market scenes begin to appear frequently — one of the subjects for which he is best known. In these works, Dechev combines the space of the marketplace with the emotional depth of rural life, blending everyday human activity with a folkloric atmosphere. This is precisely what can be observed in the painting “Karlovo Market” (1958).
In the foreground of the composition, a woman with a scale stands behind a stall selling apples. On the left, another woman is seated in profile. In the middle ground, the rest of the market unfolds, with people moving from stall to stall. On the right, there is a lemonade stand where a vendor serves two women. The town in the background opens like a picturesque frame, which Dechev uses to define both the beginning and end of the market space, reinforcing the feeling of a provincial town or village atmosphere.
Dechev’s market scenes are not descriptive in a strictly detailed sense. He does not render every element with precision, but rather conveys sensations — the noise, rhythm, and movement of people between the stalls, the warmth of sunlight and the coolness of shade beneath umbrellas. The figures are often generalized, as is the image of the woman in the market. They are not specific individuals, but rather an overall representation of women one might encounter in provincial marketplaces in mid-20th-century Bulgaria.
In Dechev’s market paintings, it is not the people who are the main protagonists, but color itself: earthy brick tones, saturated yellows, greens, and blues, as well as the contrast between light and shadow. This positions Dechev as a fully developed Post-Impressionist painter who, despite lacking formal academic training, was an exceptionally observant and modern artist. Together with Nikola Tanev, Danail Dechev rightly holds a place as a “master of light” and a key figure in the development of landscape painting in 20th-century Bulgarian art.
(M.Z.)
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