Sattar Bahlulzade (Azerbaijani: Səttar Bəhlulzadə; 15 December 1909 – 14 October 1974) was an Azerbaijani painter, best known for his landscape paintings depicting the nature of Azerbaijan. He is considered to be the founder of Azerbaijani Impressionism.
Among Bahlulzade's best-known works are Tears of Kapaz (1965), Bank of the Gudiyalchay (1953), Dream of the Land (1961), Evening Above the Caspian Sea (1959), and Goygol (1964). His works have been featured in exhibitions in Azerbaijan, the Soviet Union, and other parts of the world. The majority of Bahlulzade's body of work is preserved in the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan, where a special hall is dedicated to the artist. Some of his paintings are also kept in museums in Moscow, Tbilisi, Beijing, etc.
Today, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of Azerbaijan, as well as a prominent figure in the history of Azerbaijani art in general. He is the recipient of many awards, including two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour and People's Artist of Azerbaijan.
Sattar Bahlulzade was born on 15 December 1909 in the village of Amirjan near Baku. He was the third child in the family after two elder sisters. Sattar developed a love for painting in his early childhood. After his father bought him colored pencils, Sattar drew everything around him - the Novruz holiday, Kos-kosa dances, children jumping over bonfires as part of the Novruz tradition, etc. Being surrounded by objects of folklore art - colorful carpets woven by his mother and grandmother, jewelry, as well as ceramics and copper dishes passed down from generation to generation - Sattar began to cultivate a love for art. In one of his diaries, the artist wrote:
"Everything had its own special place in the house. Mother arranged the dishes like an artist. She folded the blankets and beddings in a way that the color schemes matched. For her, it was a work of art, it was beauty."
At school, Sattar was fond of the poems of Nizami Ganjavi, Vagif, and Khaqani, but most of all, he was inspired by the poetry of Fuzuli and the characters in his version of the famous poem Layla and Majnun. He depicted these characters on the covers of his notebooks. His teachers liked Sattar's work, one of them telling him, "there is only one path forward for you, Sattar, and that is to become an artist." Bahlulzade's music teacher was the composer Muslim Magomayev, the grandfather of the iconic Soviet Azerbaijani singer Muslim Magomayev.
Sattar attended the National Art Institute in Baku starting in 1927. After graduating in 1931, he began working with Azim Azimzade for the newspaper "Communist" as a graphic illustrator. Bahlulzade worked in the editorial office for two years, during which his first works of art, cartoons, were published.
In 1933, began studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he became a student of Vladimir Favorsky. It is at this Institute that Bahlulzade started showing interest in landscape painting. His frequent summer trips to Crimea played an important role in developing his mastery of landscape art. There, Bahlulzade realized that painting really was his true purpose and path in life.
After his return to Baku, Bahlulzade's work focused on the depictions of historic personalities and events. in 1941, he became a member of the Artists' Union of the USSR. In the post-war years, Bahlulzade painted works depicting the oil fields, dachas, and villages of the Absheron Peninsula. Bahlulzade's attraction to depictions of nature grew, and he started to paint more landscape sceneries. Azerbaijani painter Azim Azimzade, impressed by Sattar's work, offered him a position at a Communist newspaper, where he was then chief illustrator.
Bahlulzade was known primarily for his landscape paintings dedicated to the nature of the Azerbaijan. Frequently, he went out into nature to capture on canvas all its beauty. Bahlulzade once said:
"I don't have to go to Tahiti, like Gauguin, for inspiration, and I do not advise others to do it. The life and land of your people - they are the true sources of inspiration."
Initially, the artist used a realistic approach to the portrayal of nature, as he was taught by his teachers. However, Bahlulzade soon developed his own style, which helped him to better express his emotions in his depictions of nature. His new style was actually more surreal and cosmic, with some of his works looking like satellite photographs of the Earth. Combining pastels with bold colors and bold brushstrokes, Bahlulzade illustrated nature more colorfully and lively, at times including fantastic elements.
Starting from the late 1940s, Bahlulzade started to create his most renowned works of art: The Bank of Qudyalchay, The Road to Gizbanovsha (1953), Golden Evenings (1955), Native Lands (1957), etc. In these landscapes, Bahlulzade satiated his color palette, achieving a colorful decorativeness in his displays.
Sattar Bahlulzade developed his work on both natural and industrial landscapes simultaneously. This was not without a reason. The painter could feel better than anyone the poetry of oil drills, which had been a feature of his childhood. In 1954, he visited the Oil Rocks offshore drilling complex, which was dubbed Island of Miracles at the time. He immediately became fascinated by the Island of Miracles. Sattar drew dozens of sketches there. He returned to Baku full of impressions and ideas about future oil industry landscapes. This led to a number of paintings, including Spring Morning in Baku (1959), Evening Above the Caspian Sea (1959), and Morning (1961).
A year before Bahlulzade's death, in 1973, a solo exhibition of the artist was published in Moscow. The Moscow press, covering this event, wrote: "The People's Artist of Azerbaijan Sattar Bahlulzade was only truly appreciated by a wider Russian audience after his personal exhibition in Moscow. I also fell in love with his work at first sight. The exhibition was simply stunning. It was a feast of colors and light in all their pristine clarity and poignancy. We simply did not know of such a beautiful and radiant Azerbaijan before Sattar Bahlulzade."
In 1973, Bahlulzade became seriously ill due to blood poisoning. Although the artist was being treated in Sabunchu hospital in Baku, his condition was not getting better. The chief doctor of the hospital told him that the only way for him to recover was to continue his treatment in the Moscow. However, officials refused to pay for the artist's trip to Moscow, and so the trip was organized by his friends.
Sattar Bahlulzade died in Moscow on October 14, 1974. The artist was buried on October 16, not in the Alley of Honor in Baku as expected, but, at his own request, in his native village Amirjan, next to the grave of his mother. A monument was erected over Bahlulzade's grave by sculptor Omar Eldarov, depicting an artist with two empty picture frames.
Bahlulzade was a true lover of nature and saw himself as part of nature. He spent most of his life outdoors. One reason was that he wanted to be closer to nature, to understand nature, and portray it as it was. After graduating in Moscow in 1939 and returning to Baku, Sattar Bahlulzade was still developing his own style as a painter. As a painter, Sattar Bahlulzade could express himself better in harmony with nature, which we can see in the background of some of his most famous works. He spent a lot of time working on each painting. Among his works; however, there are no winter landscapes. The nature in winter attracted the artist to a lesser extent, and during this time of the year, he mostly painted in his personal studio, where he created new paintings based on his experiences in summer.