The National Museum of Art of Romania, in collaboration with the Turkish Embassy in Romania, invites you to visit the “Devrim Erbil: Istanbul yesterday and today exhibition” opened in the Kretzulescu wing of the museum between 16 November 2023 and 18 February 2024. Curator: Yildiz Ibram.

Devrim Erbil was born in 1937 in Uşak, the center of the Aegean Region of Turkey, and opened hundreds of exhibitions both in Turkey and internationally. Throughout his career he initiated numerous mixed exhibitions that promoted the art of Turkey in different cities in the world (Alexandria, Belgrade, Sofia, Kuwait), published articles in art magazines, taught at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, and in 2004 the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality founded a museum that bears his name.

The “Devrim Erbil: Istanbul yesterday and today” exhibition presents 29 paintings and one silk print created by the artist between 1989 and 2023. In his vision an artist should debut inspiring himself from the tradition of his country. Thus, since the 1970s, he started painting abstract urban and natural landscapes from the Anatolian cities and from Istanbul. Erbil draws bird’s eye view landscapes in an abstract contemporary fashion with a composition that relies on sketches, establishing a connection with traditional miniature paintings. His works are not mere imitations of traditional miniature, but modern works, original, colored with a vast amount of realistic details.

The exhibition curator, Yildiz Ibram, has an extensive experience of over 25 years and is the founder of two art associations in Romania and Istanbul. With a master’s degree in arts at the National University of Art in Bucharest, Yildiz Ibram is the author of many cultural projects both in Romania and Turkey, in collaboration with public and private institutions, among which are the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey, the Romanian Embassy in Ankara, the Romanian Cultural Institute in Istanbul, the “Yunus Emre” Turkish Cultural Institute, the National Museum of Romanian Literature, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant and the Romanian Academy.