Vidin Art Gallery
Vidin Art Gallery, patronized by the artist Nikola Petrov, was founded in 1961. The museum is located in a representative building in the city center, designed and built on the bastion of the fortress system in 1892 by architect Varhota for the Military Club. The gallery’s three funds (painting, graphics and sculpture) store more than 1,500 works of art by Bulgarian and foreign artists. The first works (movable cultural monuments) in its fund came from the collections of Mihail Kremen and Bogomil Rainov. Added to this are paintings created in 1962 in an organized plein air, which was attended by famous artists from all over the country. Among the participants are Stoyan Venev, Panayot Panayotov, Ivan Hristov, Iliya Petrov and Alexander Poplilov.
The graphic department of the art gallery in Vidin contains 45 original graphic pieces of world famous masters: Rembrandt, Albrecht Durer, Gustave Dore, Francisco Goya, François Mile, Delacroix, Theodore Rousseau. The gallery also contains original works by the worldwide famous artist, a native of Vidin, Jules Pascin, as well as valuable works and belongings of the patron donated to gallery by his heirs.
The collection of paintings impresses with works by Ivan Markvichka, Nikola Petrov, Vladimir Dimitrov – The Master, Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Dechko Uzunov, Boris Nenov, Sirak Skitnik, Nenko Balkanski, Vasil Stoilov, Boris Mitov, Alexander Petrov. Many landscapes from several editions of national exhibitions dedicated to this genre entered the gallery’s collection. Among them are the awarded works of Nayden Petkov and Ivan Vukadinov, as well as a personal donation from Professor Nikolai Ruschukliev, who is vitally connected with the town of Vidin.
The collection of the sculpture department includes the names of Lyubomir Dalchev, Ivan Funev, Panayot Panayotov, as well as Alexander Apostolov, Anastasia Gyukova and Prodan Prodanov who worked in Vidin.
