Faruk Cimok, 1956 | Romantic painter

Faruk Cimok was born in Reyhanli-Hatay, Turkey.

He graduated from the Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy (now known as Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University) Devrim Erbil Workshop.

He depicts the people of the rural part of Southern Anatolia, cotton workers, in crowded figure groups in his paintings.

In a sense, he caricatures, a unique taste of hoarding and anxiety of typology predominate.

Hermann Hesse | Sono una stella / I am a star / Ich bin ein Stern

Sono una stella del firmamento

che osserva il mondo, disprezza il mondo

e si consuma nel proprio ardore.

Io sono il mare di notte in tempesta

il mare urlante che accumula nuovi

peccati e agli antichi rende mercede.

Abdullah Evindar

Nazim Hikmet | Il più bello dei mari / The most beautiful sea, 1942

Il più bello dei mari

è quello che non navigammo.

Il più bello dei nostri figli

non è ancora cresciuto.

I più belli dei nostri giorni

non li abbiamo ancora vissuti.

Ricardo Sanz | Carmen y el mar

Nazim Hikmet | Alla vita / On Living

La vita non è uno scherzo.

Prendila sul serio

come fa lo scoiattolo, ad esempio,

senza aspettarti nulla

dal di fuori o nell'aldilà.

Non avrai altro da fare che vivere.

La vita non è uno scherzo.

Prendila sul serio

ma sul serio a tal punto

Rene Magritte | La Reconnaissance Infinie, 1961

Rabindranath Tagore | When I go alone at night / Quando vado da solo di notte

When I go alone at night to my love-tryst,

birds do not sing, the wind does not stir,

the houses on both sides of the street stand silent.

It is my own anklets that grow loud

at every step and I am ashamed.

Abdullah-Evindar

Abdullah Evindar | Mixed media Illustrator

Abdullah Evindar is a Turkish mixed media Illustrator. Evindar works to combine silhouettes with nature and landscapes.

Working in both analog and digital methods, his technique brings a strong surrealism feel throughout his body of work.

Osman Hamdi Bey | The Tortoise Trainer, 1906

The Tortoise Trainer Hamdi's 1906 painting, The Tortoise Trainer, has held the record until 2019 for the most valuable Turkish painting, after being sold for 5 million Turkish Liras (approx. US$3.5 million) in December 2004.

At the 2004 Artam Antik A.Ç. auction in Istanbul, the Pera Museum and the Turkish Modern Museum fought to acquire the painting, and was ultimately purchased by the Pera Museum.

The painting depicts Hamdi's likeness clad in antiquated clothing, training tortoises in a mosque.

This choice of subject matter leads many to see this painting as a commentary on Turkey's conflicted national identity.

Nazim Hikmet | Dead Leaves / Foglie morte, 1961

Ferdinand Hodler (Swiss painter, 1853-1918) | Autumn Evening, 1892

Seeing the leaves fall tears me inside

especially those falling on boulevards

especially chestnut leaves

especially if kids are around

especially if the sky is clear

especially if I’ve got good news that day

especially if my heart doesn’t ache that day

and I believe my love loves me

especially if that day I feel in agreement with men and with myself

seeing the leaves fall, it tears me inside

especially those falling on boulevards

especially chestnut’s boulevards.