FARHAD KHALILOV“There’s nothing in the world like freedom for an artist.”

Farhad Khalilov

From the Cycle “Meeting”, 2010–2011 — Farhad Khalilov

From the Cycle “Meeting”, 2010–2011

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About the artist

Biography
Farhad Khalilov at his studio window, photographed by Maya Baghirova for Nargis Magazine.

Farhad Khalilov's painting moves from close observation of the Absheron landscape towards an increasingly distilled language of colour, form and space. Across decades, the sea, horizon, village streets, trees and mountains return as subjects of continuous artistic investigation. His later cycles develop this language through scale, repetition and the relationship between abstraction and recognition.

Artistic Periods

All periods
Rain in Mardakan, 1967 — Farhad Khalilov
1965–1970
Green Hill, 1982 — Farhad Khalilov
1970–1985
Spring, 1997 — Farhad Khalilov
1985–2000
From the Cycle “Meeting”, 2004 — Farhad Khalilov
2000–present

Selected Works

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Road to the Sea, 1969 — Farhad Khalilov
Road to the Sea1969
Flowering Almond, 1976 — Farhad Khalilov
Flowering Almond1976
Green Hill, 1982 — Farhad Khalilov
Green Hill1982
Flowering Quince, 1989 — Farhad Khalilov
Flowering Quince1989
Spring, 1997 — Farhad Khalilov
Spring1997
From the Cycle “Unexpected View”, 2004 — Farhad Khalilov
From the Cycle “Unexpected View”2004
From the Series “Earth Patterns”, 2006 — Farhad Khalilov
From the Series “Earth Patterns”2006
From the Cycle “Meeting”, 2007–2008 — Farhad Khalilov
From the Cycle “Meeting”2007–2008

Selected Exhibitions

All exhibitions
Installation view of Between the Earth and the Sky at the Museum of Azerbaijani Painting in Baku.
BETWEEN THE EARTH AND THE SKYBaku · 2023–2024
Visitors in Farhad Khalilov's exhibition at Saatchi Gallery, London, 2015.
Farkhad KhalilovLondon · 2015
Installation of Farhad Khalilov's Meeting exhibition at VDNKh, Moscow, 2016.
MeetingMoscow · 2016
Farhad Khalilov's exhibition at the Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery, Tbilisi, 2016.
Solo ExhibitionTbilisi · 2016

From the Archive

Explore the archive
With Sattar Bahlulzade at a plein-air painting session
With Sattar Bahlulzade at a plein-air painting session
The Artists’ Union’s 65th anniversary at the National Museum of Art
The Artists’ Union’s 65th anniversary at the National Museum of Art
Discussion of his first solo exhibition, Moscow, 1973
Discussion of his first solo exhibition, Moscow, 1973
With Javad Mirjavadov
With Javad Mirjavadov
With Togrul Narimanbekov
With Togrul Narimanbekov

Press & Conversations

All conversations
Farhad Khalilov and interviewer Nihat Pir seated across the artist's desk.
Art, Professionalism and the Place of the PainterReport.az · 2026
Brushes and painting materials in the studio. Photograph by Maya Baghirova.
Farhad Khalilov’s Meta PaintingsNargis Magazine · 2021
Farhad Khalilov and his interviewer seated across a desk covered with books and papers.
An Artistic Career Beyond Official Position525-ci qəzet · 2014
Farhad Khalilov, “In Karabakh”, 130 × 100 cm, oil on canvas, 1990.
The Collapse of the Soviet Precedent in ArtAzerbaijan International · 1999