Vladimir Rilsky

Vladimir Rilski 1905 - 1969

Vladimir Georgiev Rilski was born in 1905 in Peshera into the family of the prominent intellectual Georgi Rilski. He graduated from the "Alexander I" Boys' High School in Plovdiv and entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia in 1925, where his professors included Dimitar Gyudzhenov, Nikola Marinov, and Stefan Ivanov. In 1929, he left for Vienna to specialize. Upon his return to Bulgaria, Vladimir Rilski began working as a high school art teacher in Plovdiv. He associated himself with the "Baratsite" circle—the artists Vasil Barakov, Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, and Tsanko Lavrenov—whose motto advocated for an art that was deeply national in spirit. Rilski organized his first solo exhibition in Plovdiv in 1938 and also held a joint exhibition with Zlatyu Boyadzhiev.

From 1945, he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. During this period, he participated in many General Art Exhibitions (OHI), and in 1946, his solo exhibition in Sofia was opened by the writer Georgi Karaslavov. In 1949, Rilski went to work in Smolyan—creating panels, painting posters, and decorating the interiors of public buildings—activities through which he earned modest means to support his family, who had remained in Sofia. The attitude of his contemporaries toward him is highly indicative of Vladimir Rilski's personality—due to his idealistic spirit and self-denial, the people of the Rhodopes called him the "Bezrebrenik" (The Unmercenary / The Moneyless One) and "Gorskiya Tsar" (The Forest King). This mystical-lyrical philosophy of life reflected on Rilski's art; his painting carries the romance of church iconography and the realism of Bulgarian folklore. Consequently, even during his lifetime, the artist was considered one of the brightest representatives of the "Native Art" movement in the 1930s and 1940s. His iconic series of National Revival houses from Koprivshtitsa dates precisely from this period (the 1930s). Rilski presented picturesque views from the Rhodopes at his solo exhibition in Sofia in 1964. Today, his works are held in the National Art Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, and the regional art galleries of Plovdiv, Vratsa, Varna, Smolyan, Pernik, Karlovo, Kazanlak, as well as in other public and private collections.

He died in 1969 in a tragic accident in Shiroka Laka.