Background
Vladimir Dimitrov was born on February 1, 1882 in Frolosh, near Kyustendil, in the family of generations of clergymen. Due to the poverty of his family he left school to work.
Vladimir Dimitrov was born on February 1, 1882 in Frolosh, near Kyustendil, in the family of generations of clergymen. Due to the poverty of his family he left school to work.
In 1903 Vladimir enrolled in the School of Drawing in Sofia where he had been called the Master (Maystora) for the first time.
Vladimir Dimitrov started his career as a clerk. In 1922 he met the American John Crane in Rome and sold him much of his work for the next few years. In the period before and after the First World War he traveled extensively, visited Russia, Italy, France, Germany, and the USA. After that he spent almost all of his life in the village of Shishkovtzi.
Vladimir Dimitrov was famous not solely because of his paintings but also because of his lifestyle. His family was poor but even after he became famous, he was trying to give away all of his possessions and money, living in poverty and asceticism, wearing old clothes, never shaving and eating only vegetarian food. That was the reason why even while alive, many people believed that he was a saint and showed great affection for him.
Vladimir Dimitrov was an outstanding artist who included bright colors within his art and today his artwork may be considered a fauvist type rather than expressionist. He used a wide range of post-impressionist techniques, but his works always keep a strong bound with reality and try to simplify many of the figures and compositions to make them accessible for a wider public.
His main expressive strength did not come from the clarity of the images but from the colors. More than 700 of his oil paintings are exhibited in the "Vladimir Dimitrov Art Gallery" in Kyustendil. Maystora Peak on Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for the painter. The artist died on September 29, 1960.
Although he does not consider himself religious, he regards Nature as governed by a supreme spirit.
In 1946 he joined the Communist Party.
Vladimir Dimitrov adhered to the artistic traditions of Post-Impressionism. The main topic which he explored was the relation between Man and Nature. He shared that the main purpose of his paintings was to elevate man and humanity, to bring it closer to harmony, represented by this omnipresent spirit.
