Ivan Milev (1897 – 1927) was a Bulgarian painter and scenographer regarded as the founder of the Bulgarian Secession and a representative of Bulgarian modernism, combining symbolism, Art Nouveau and expressionism in his work.

Ivan Milev was born in the town of Kazanlak in the family of shepherd Milyu Lalev. In 1917-1918, he fought as a soldier in World War I. On 18 November 1918, the same year that he finished high school in his hometown, he arranged an exhibition in Kazanlak. For two years he was a teacher in Gorski Izvor, Haskovo Province.

In 1920, Milev was admitted to the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, where he studied under Prof. Stefan Badzhov, and had three one-man exhibitions. He also contributed to the communist comic magazine Red Laughter (Червен смях, Cherven smyah) as an illustrator and cartoonist.

In the summer of 1923, Ivan Milev visited Turkey, Greece and Italy with a group of fellow students. He was introduced to the achievements of the Italian Renaissance and the Italian Baroque in Rome, Naples, Florence and Venice.

In 1926, he graduated in set decoration from the National Academy and worked for the Ivan Vazov National Theatre as a stage designer. Afterwards he became an independent freelance painter and illustrator and he also painted frescoes.

Regarded as one of the great masters of distemper and watercolor painting in Bulgarian art, Ivan Milev often created socially loaded works.

His characteristic decorative style was much influenced by the European Secession, but it was also related to Bulgarian folk art and icon painting. Ivan Milev’s paintings are exhibited in the National Art Gallery, Sofia Art Gallery, the Shumen, Kazanlak and other cities’ galleries. Source: Wikiart.