The exhibition, titled A Route Beyond the Limits of the Mind: Fikret Mualla, will showcase Fikret Mualla’s works from the Bor Art collection at the Erimtan Museum, a venue known for its innovative display of archaeological artifacts and interdisciplinary events that embrace contemporary museology practices. Organized in collaboration with Bor Art, the exhibition will present a refined perspective on the Fikret Mualla works from the Hancan Art Collection. Running from March to September, this compelling exhibition is curated by Associate Professor Dr. Ebru Nalan Sülün.
Fikret Mualla
Fikret Mualla, one of the prominent figures in Turkish painting, was born in 1903 in Istanbul. He began his education at the Saint Joseph French School and later attended Galatasaray High School. His interest in painting was nurtured here under the guidance of his art teacher, Şevket Dağ.
In 1920, he was sent to Switzerland to study engineering but moved to Germany in 1921, enrolling in the Poster and Draftsmanship Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1922, he transferred to the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts, where he became a student of the renowned artist Arthur Kampf. After completing his education in 1926, Mualla returned to Turkey and began teaching art at Galatasaray High School in 1927. However, he resigned in 1928 and returned to Germany.
Between 1928 and 1930, he stayed in France, then returned to Turkey in 1930 to teach art in Ayvalık. During this period, he illustrated famous works by Turkish poet Nâzım Hikmet, including Varan 3 (1930) and Why Did Benerci Kill Himself? (1932). Another milestone in his career was a book he published in 1932 about German playwright Friedrich Schiller. In 1934, he held his first solo exhibition at Kapps Bookstore in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district.
Beyond his paintings, Mualla designed costumes for operettas such as Lüküs Hayat, Deli Dolu, and Saz Caz performed in Istanbul, and created illustrations for the magazine Yeni Adam. In 1939, he painted various Istanbul scenes for the Turkish Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair and later that year moved to Paris, where he joined Othon Friesz’s workshop at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
Since 1928, Mualla had struggled with psychological issues and was hospitalized at times. During a hospital stay in 1954, he held major exhibitions and participated in numerous shows in Paris and its surroundings until 1964. Fikret Mualla lived in France until the end of his life, leaving an indelible mark on the art world as one of the significant figures of Turkish painting.
