Palette cleansed, by art

Don't want to leave the blog (weekend off line) with the bitter taste of sartre and smoking.

So, a palette-cleansing Bulgarian Icon painter.

My favorite (because he looks like an Edward Gorey figure), and the most famous (R said). The esteemed Zahari Zograf (I believe, my translation from Cyrillic on museum ticket).

He was on the 100 leva note until, unceremoniously, in 1999 being replaced by Aleko Konstantinov. Writer (of modern life) trumps artist (of religious scenes and saints). Progress marches on.

We went to a gallery full of his works (icons all) in Old Plovdiv. A few funny moments of him modeling some better known saints on his own face + figure but otherwise entirely un-hubristic and rich stuff.

Here's to weekend.

C