Ivan Milev's decorative period
The decorative work of Ivan Milev belongs to the second period of his artistic evolution (1920 - 1925). During this time he aimed to participate at the social changes underway in Bulgarian society and to capture them in his art. For example, the painting "September 1923" from 1925 makes explicit reference to a dramatic national upheaval and the victims it took, but he also painted national and folkloristic motives like legends and fairytales.
Stylistically, this period illustrates Milev's determination to create a style that synthesises formal features and content. Flat and rich with colour were his stylisations and ornaments of geometric and linear forms. His use of the line evolved from a strictly geometric and rigid line to a narrating one.
At the end of his short career this element gave way to colour (1925 - 1927). Ivan Milev found in the elements of line and colour, just like the Expressionists, the most suitable form to express the state his of his soul and the one of his people.
See some images of Ivan Milev's paintings below
 Monastery of Maglen, Triptych [Magliski manastir, triptich, bulg.], 1924 guash on paper, 59 x 75 cm – left National Art Gallery Sofia, Inv. Nr. 311 |
 Monastery of Maglen, Triptych [Magliski manastir, triptich, bulg.], 1924 guash on paper, 77 x 55 cm – center National Art Gallery Sofia, Inv. Nr. 312 |
 Monastery of Maglen, Triptych [Magliski manastir, triptich, bulg.], 1924 guash on paper, 58 x 75 cm – right National Art Gallery Sofia, Inv. Nr. 313 |
 Harvester [Ztvarka, bulg.], 1924 guash, bronze on cardboard, 18 x 16 cm National Art Gallery Sofia, Inv. Nr. 1446 |