Mardakan view 1969

Editor: This is "Mardakan View" by Sattar Bahlulzade, painted in 1969. It's an oil painting, and I find its dreamlike quality quite striking. The colours are so vibrant yet the forms feel…almost ephemeral. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a memory palace constructed from colour. Those towers, rendered in such distinctive blues, rise like defiant signifiers of place. Note how they dominate the pink, almost ethereal, landscape. What could these forms be echoing for you? Editor: Towers often symbolize power or history, but these feel softened, more like impressions than solid structures. Almost romantic. Is there something more specific that they could be referencing? Curator: Precisely. And consider Mardakan’s history. Once a strategically significant village. Now notice the brushstrokes—short, repetitive, almost frantic. They evoke a kind of cultural memory struggling to assert itself, overlaid with a deeply personal emotion. How does that emotional quality strike you? Editor: The rapid strokes definitely add a sense of urgency and passion. It's like Bahlulzade is not just showing us the landscape, but his emotional connection to it. Curator: Exactly. Bahlulzade isn't just depicting Mardakan; he’s evoking the emotional resonance the place holds for him, layered with history, culture, and personal experience. The color and form contribute, so what feelings emerge for you when you observe the interplay of color and structure? Editor: I'm starting to see it. It's a beautiful depiction of place but is also filled with symbolism – of history, emotion and personal connection. It's more complex than just a landscape. Curator: Indeed. He invites us to contemplate not just the appearance of the place, but its deeper, perhaps fading, cultural significance, and how individual memory shapes our understanding of space. Editor: That's a totally different way to appreciate the painting. Thank you.