FİKRET MUALLA - WOMEN IN THE BAR

The accident that resulted in his ankle being broken during his childhood years and the death of his mother from the Spanish flu had negative effects that lasted throughout his life. After graduating from Galatasaray High School, he was sent to Germany by his father for language and engineering education. However, he was in favor of becoming an artist. Instead of regular education, he left himself to the free formation of his instincts. In 1928, he suffered a great depression in Berlin and was admitted to a mental hospital. When he returned to Istanbul, he started teaching art at Ayvalık Middle School. He could not continue this job. He went to Paris in 1939. He lived the life of a bohemian artist there. He opened his first personal exhibition in Paris in 1954. He organized a second personal exhibition a year later. First, industrialist Lhermine and then Madam Angles, who hospitalized him and ensured that he received good care, took care of the artist. Fikret Muallâ passed away in 1967. Some of his paintings that were auctioned in Paris were purchased by the state and the Fikret Muallâ Hall was established in the Ankara Painting and Sculpture Museum.

Fikret Mualla, the liveliness of the primary colors he prefers in his paintings, although they evoke joyful connotations, often bear the traces of his depressed and tragic life. The artist expresses the street life he depicts with its entertainment venues, cafes and restaurants with a strong sense of melancholy.