The exhibition Krum Shopov – Paintings opened on 1 August 2008 at 18.00 at the Sredets Gallery, 17 Al. Stamboliiski Blvd., Sofia. From 1 to 10 August the collection was on view at the gallery for all art lovers and specialists. Further studies and display of the artist's work are envisioned.

    Curator and organizer of the exhibition is Pavlina T. Shopova, artist and designer, graduate of New Bulgarian University and the University of Westminster, London. The project has been supported and funded by the Shopov family – Krum Shopov’s wife Pavlina and his two sons, Todor and Emil, who submitted their own collections of paintings especially for the event. The exhibition has been realized in cooperation and with the expert support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria.

    For the first time the artist’s complete work was presented to the Bulgarian audience. Krum Shopov’s oil paintings recreate the spirit of nature and generate feelings of tranquility and intimacy, power and contemplation. Krum Shopov creates a world of warm colors and harmony, which we get to like straight away. The exhibition has contributed to the enrichment of Bulgarian culture history of the 20th century and has promoted the work of a remarkable Bulgarian artist.

    The opening evening brought together representatives of the Ministry of Culture, galleries, cultural institutions, university lecturers and art students as well as people who admire the artist’s work. The event included modern music performance by Austrian-Bulgarian ArtProject led by Bistra Dilianoff, composer and pianist. A catalogue of Krum Shopov’s paintings was produced specially for the exhibition and is available for everyone interested in the author's work.

    Krum Nikolov Shopov was born on 5 April 1926 in Tulcea, Romania. Until 1942, he lived in Romania, Northern Dobrudja, where he graduated from a lyceum. His family was repatriated to Bulgaria following the Craiova Treaty. He did his military service in Bulgaria and then started his studies at the Academy of Art in Bucharest. In 1949, his father died unexpectedly. His brother who lived in Bucharest at that time disappeared without a trace. Krum Shopov had to stop his studies and return to Bulgaria in 1950.

    In Silistra, he became the founder of a group of artists who painted and made exhibitions together. They invited art committees and experts to view their work. Krum Shopov regularly participated in these events. He held a single-artist exhibition in Shumen and had some of his paintings sold. He was commissioned to paint portraits of well-known people of the time and he portrayed peasants from the Silistra region. In 1951, he started work as art teacher at the Silistra Secondary School. In the same year, he married Pavlina Shopova. They had two sons. In 1953, Krum Shopov organised a major exhibition of his paintings in Sofia, where he received an award for his work “Forest path”.

    In 1957, Krum Shopov moved to Sofia. He began to collaborate with a group of artists led by Ivan Bunkera in a private studio. In 1959, he started work at the Ministry of Trade as Head of Advertising, until his retirement in 1986. In that period he created the logo of the “Food Stores” and was responsible for the arrangement of the store windows and the interior design of that general chain of shops. He travelled to Libya, where his wife worked for two years, and produced a series of paintings from there. He also painted in open air - Vitosha, Batak, The Balkan mountain etc. His favourite art genre was the landscape.