Valentina Assenova

Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Fellow in the Humanities

20052006 Forum on Word and Image

Valentina Assenova

Fine Arts & Finance

College & Wharton '08

Vladimir Dimitrov and the Bulgarian Madonna: Creed, Criticism, Propaganda

Bulgarian artist Vladimir Dimitrov belonged to a movement in the 20th century that defined national identity in agrarian terms: the motherland and the common laborer were one. Dimitrov’s signature painting, popularly known as “The Bulgarian Madonna,” was to personify Bulgaria’s bright Communist future. What does this work, with its strong nationalistic overtones, reveal about how we read and see art?