The Art Gallery in Smolyan was established in 1964. The same year it opened its first exhibition. In 1983, it moved to its new, specially designed building, where it has 1,000 square meters of exhibition area, stockpiles, workshops, a preservation and restoration workshop.
The artistic fund of the gallery consists of about 2000 works by Bulgarian and foreign authors, presented in different genres of painting, graphics and sculpture, emphasizing the interest for artists permanently connected with the Rhodopes.
The permanent exhibition of the Smolyan Art Gallery presents works by some of the most prominent representatives of the Bulgarian fine arts - Vladimir Dimitrov-Maistora, Bencho Obreshkov, Nenko Balkanski, Anastas Staykov, Zlatyu Boyadjiev, David Perez, Vasil Barakov, Alexander Mutafov, Rafael Mihailov, Uzunov, Stoyan Venev, Ilia Beshkov and others.
The "Rhodope" character of most of the works in the AG - Smolyan, determines the specificity of its exposition. Many of the works are inspired by Rhodope nature, life, history and rich local traditions. A special place among them is the collection "Orpheus in Bulgarian Fine Art". In it are the small sculptures of Valentin Starchev, Margarita Pueva, Dimitar Rashkov; the canvases of Dobri Dobrev, Atanas Pecev and the graphics of Petar Chuklev, Zdravko Zahariev, Zafir Yovchev, Atanas Neykov.
Source: http://www.smolyan.bg/
Translation Yordan Georgiev - trainee
