Foundational Endeavours

The art of painting, which, in our country, sprung from the illuminations applied on the pages of books to canvas during 18th century, took a new turn following the introduction of painting courses in the academic cirriculum.

Toward the end of the 19th centur, Osman Hamdi Bey, Şeker Ahmed Paşa and Süleyman Seyyid Bey, who had all studied in Paris, made a powerful surge forward as pioneering artists and the champions of an entirely new conception of painting.

Osman Hamdi Bey, 1907

Osman Hamdi Bey, 1886

Şeker Ahmed Paşa, 1904

Driven by his profound love for the art of painting, Şeker Ahmed Paşa strained the natural colours and postures of trees and fruits through his own spiritual palette before transferring them onto the canvas.

The unique light that emanates from the canvases of Süleyman Seyyid Bey, who shunned ostentation and attached the utmost importance to geometry, forms something quite close to his signature; within his works, details owe their existence to light, before colour.

Süleyman Seyyid Bey, 1906

Abdülmecid Efendi, 1926

Having  received an academic education, Halil Paşa's works, resting on solid drawing technique, gradually became more colourful, encompassed more energetic, different brush strokes and progressed towards impressionist sensibility.

Hüseyin Zekâi Paşa

Hüseyin Zekai Paşa too progressed from faithfully academic still lifes and works representing classical artefacts in the early stages of his life to the adoption of an impressionist approach in his later landscapes.

Hoca Ali Rıza

Mihri Hanım

Self-portrait of the pioneer painter Mihri (Müşfik/Rasim/Açba/Virzi) Hanım, who braoadened new perspectives for women in the art of painting.

Conveys the artist's self-confident stance to the viewer with all its vitality.