The legend of dance Vladimir Vasiliev who is in our sea capital as Chairman of the Jury of the XXVI edition of the International Ballet Competition – Varna will present to connoisseurs his unknown until now in Bulgaria talent of a painter. He will arrange his one-man aquarelle exhibition in the prestigious halls of the City Art Gallery. The invitation for this visiting exhibition comes from the organizers of the forum, and is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first in the world ballet competition.
The world-famous choreographer admits that he is not tempted by ballet as an artist, and that to him the art of painting is a sort of a creative immunity, a step aside from ballet – the art to which he has dedicated his entire life. He has chosen to engage in the painting of landscapes, and initially he began doing so under the influence of the Impressionists. He has drawn inspiration from many different places. Among them is the small village of Rijievka, some 100 km from Kostroma, where he often goes to paint, yet, there are many wonderful places in Italy as well. As an aquarelle artist Vasiliev has a special attitude towards the colors of the sea, sky, and snow which he counterpoises with contrasting earthy hues.
Vasiliev has brought more than 50 aquarelle works for his exhibition in Varna that have been created primarily in the last few years. We see roads, fields, the sea, mountains – places the artist has visited in his motherland and around the world – Voronezh, Sochi, Bashkiria the Maui Island – Hawaii, Ubatuba – Brazil.
The exhibition also hosts a few sketches of performances – the ballets “Home by the Road”, “Macbeth”, and the opera “Mermaid”.
The name of Vladimir Vasiliev has been bound with Bulgaria ever since the early years of the International Ballet Competition – Varna. He is the only holder of the Grand Prix in the whole history of this first and most prestigious ballet competition in the world.
The exhibition will be opened at 17:00 P.M. on Sunday, 20 July, and will run until 30 July.
On 26 July, in the Drama Theatre/Opera, Vladimir Vasiliev will give a “Master Class” already expected with great interest among the professional community.
The Competition is organized by the “International Ballet Competition – Varna” Foundation, with Varna Municipality as a co-organizer. The forum is carried out with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Bulgaria. Margarita Popova, Vice President of the Republic of Bulgaria is patron of the jubilee edition. The Ballet Olympiad is under the patronage of the UNESCO, and Irina Bokova, General Director of the world organization. The Competition is held in support of the candidacy of Varna for European Capital in 2019. General sponsor of the Competition is the Societe Generalе Expressbank.