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Giorgi (Gigo) Gabashvili (1862-1936) was one of the founders of the Georgian academic school and easel painting. Deeply influenced by the traditions of Russian Realism, his artistic vision closely aligned with the ideals of the Peredvizhniki (the Wanderers), a connection clearly reflected in his realistic works. Gabashvili was also the first artist in the history of Georgian art to create symbolist compositions.
Artist in Focus – Koki Makharadze (1929-1992) was a Georgian painter and graphic artist. Emerging in the 1950s, he developed a distinctive visual language within the era of Socialist Realism, combining national themes with symbolic and metaphorical imagery.
In 1970s Soviet Georgia, the pressure of socialist realism propaganda and censorship had lessened significantly, but nonconformist artists were still unable to take advantage of state benefits. Without large orders, they were unable to buy cars, apartments, or country homes with party lists, nor could they hope for a personal exhibition or widespread recognition. Yet, locked in their studios, they retained their creative freedom, refused to praise their leaders, and in doing so, learned to expect, no accolades from them. Half-starved, they continued to produce true art.
#HistoryofOneBuilding - Pushkin Street house Nº 3 stands on Freedom Square, near the historic Kojori Gate, from where the nineteenth-century development of Tbilisi’s Garetubani District began. The house was built in the 1880s together with house Nº 1 on the same street, and was architecturally integrated with it. According to some sources, both buildings were designed by the well-known Tbilisi-born German architect Albert Salzmann. From the 2000s to the present, Pushkin Street Nº 3 has belonged to the საქართველოს ბანკი • Bank of Georgia. Since 2020, it has housed the bank’s branch for wealth management.
In the late 1950s, few knew who young Alexander (Shura) Bandzeladze (1927-1992) was. Indeed, they failed to realize that the painting that headed the renowned Galaktioni’s burial procession to the Mtatsminda Pantheon in 1959 was his: he had painted it a few years prior, in 1952.
Tamara Toumanova always longed to visit Georgia, the homeland of her mother, whose family name she carried with pride throughout her life. She came into the world in unusual circumstances: her mother, Evgenia Tumanishvili, was traveling to Vladivostok in distant Siberia to join her husband, Konstantin Zakharov, a doctor of the Caucasian Military District. Tamara was born in a train carriage on the way on March 2, 1919.
The work of the late 19th- to early 20th-century self-taught Georgian artist Niko Pirosmanashvili is among the jewels of Georgian cultural heritage. On one hand, Pirosmanashvili's legacy reflects his unique inborn talent, individual mastery and artistic individuality, while on the other his art is most often considered among the best expressions of the Georgian national aesthetic identity and its continuous artistic traditions.
The village Tsvirmi comprises several painted churches, among them the church of the Archangels located in the Zagar district. The single nave two -storied church is dated to the 9th c. It is one of the oldest churches in Upper Svaneti. The interior of the ground floor is covered with murals and displays a rather developed program of the painting.
#Glimpseingallery - The Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery hosted Buba Arabuli’s (b. 1971) solo exhibition, At the Boundary of Time and Space. The exhibition opened on April 30, 2026, and ran for one month.
In his farewell letter to David (Duda) Gabashvili (1914-1995)- painter, graphic artist, sculptor, teacher, Honored Artist of Georgia, and People’s Artist of Georgia - the art historian and Academician Vakhtang Beridze noted that Gabashvili was an artist of impeccable taste and refinement, possessing the highest artistic culture and professionalism. Art historian Gogi Khoshtaria, meanwhile, argues that David Gabashvili’s art has not received the recognition it deserves. Rather than appealing through superficial effects, it demands a thoughtful and discerning viewer capable of engaging with its deeper artistic and intellectual dimensions.
Georgian primitivism is often associated with Niko Pirosmani, although his work cannot be confined to that single category. His art engages with much broader pictorial traditions, and its uniqueness extends far beyond what is usually meant by naive or primitivist painting.
One of the earliest pieces of medieval Georgian art is the Martvili Encolpion, a miniature triptych icon dating to the 8th-9th centuries. Preserved for generations at Martvili Monastery, it is a complex work composed of three carved panels enriched with a variety of materials and techniques. Partitioned enamel, gilded silver relief figures, Gospel scenes on the reverse, and inlaid precious stones create a striking artistic whole.
