The Vidin Art Gallery, whose patron is the painter Nikola Petrov—born in the town of Vidin—was established in 1961. The museum is housed in a representative building in the town center, designed and built in 1892 by architect Vărhota for use as a Military Club, on top of a bastion of the former fortress system.
The gallery’s three collections (painting, graphic arts, and sculpture) preserve over 1,500 works of art by Bulgarian and foreign artists. The first works in its collection (movable cultural heritage monuments) were acquired from the collections of Mihail Kremen and Bogomil Raynov. These were later supplemented by paintings created during a 1962 plein-air event, which brought together established artists from across the country at the time. Among the participants were prominent names such as Stoyan Venev, Panayot Panayotov, Ivan Hristov, Iliya Petrov, and Aleksandar Poplilov.
The graphic arts department of the Vidin Art Gallery holds 45 original graphic sheets by world-famous masters: Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer, Gustave Doré, Francisco Goya, François Millet, Delacroix, and Théodore Rousseau. The gallery also owns an original work by the world-renowned painter Jules Pascin, who was born in Vidin, as well as a valuable donation of works and personal belongings of the gallery’s patron, donated by his descendants.
The painting collection impresses with works by Ivan Mrkvička, Nikola Petrov, Vladimir Dimitrov – The Master, Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Dechko Uzunov, Boris Nenov, Sirak Skitnik, Nenko Balkanski, Vasil Stoilov, Boris Mitov, and Aleksandar Petrov. Later, many of the landscape works from several editions of the National Exhibitions dedicated to this genre were added to the gallery’s collection. Among them are award-winning works by Nayden Petkov and Ivan Vukadinov, as well as a personal donation from Prof. Nikolay Ruschucliev, who was closely connected to the city of Vidin throughout his life.
The sculpture collection feature works by Lubomir Dalchev, Ivan Funev, Panayot Panayotov, as well as artists who worked in Vidin such as Aleksandar Apostolov, Anastasia Gyukova, and Prodan Prodanov.
