Niko Pirosmanashvili also known as Niko Pirosmani (Georgian: ნიკო ფიროსმანაშვილი; May 5, 1862-1918) is a late 19th-early 20th century Georgian primitivist painter. His paintings are often of animals, people dining, and people serving food. His artwork is not well known outside Russia or Georgia. Pirosmanashvili is also known in Russia for a romantic encounter with a French actress who visited his town; Pirosmanashvili was deeply in love with her, and to demonstrate it, bought her enough flowers to fill the square in front of her hotel window (allegedly driving himself bankrupt). The story became famous when it was recounted in a poem by Andrei Voznesensky, and later into a hit song by Alla Pugacheva.

Biography

Pirosmani was born in the Georgian village of Mirzaani to a peasant family in the Kakheti province. His family has a small vineyards He was later orphaned and put in the care of his two elder sisters. He move with them to Tbilisi in 1870. In 1872 he worked as a servant for wealthy families and learned to read and write Russian and Georgian. In 1876 he returned to Mirzaani and worked as a herdsman. He gradually learned painting. In 1882 he opened a workshop in Tbilisi which was unsuccessful. In 1890 he worked as a railroad conductor, and in 1895 worked creating signboards. In 1893 He co-founded a dairy farm in Tbilisi which he left in 1901. In 1918 he died of malnutrition and liver failure. He was buried at the Nino cemetery and the exact location is unknown because it was not registered.

Pirosmani was the subject of a succesful film by Giorgi Shengelaya, made in 1969, that won the grand prix on the Chicago Film festival in 1972. Director Sergei Parajanov shot a short film entitled "Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme."

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http://www.pirosmani.org
http://www.museum.ge