In September 2019, Farhad Khalilov returned to the Baku exhibition scene with Yenidən Bakıda (Back in Baku), a major solo presentation at the Heydar Aliyev Center, held with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. Bringing together approximately sixty paintings, the exhibition offered a broad view of his artistic development, placing early works alongside paintings from his mature and more recent practice.
The exhibition marked a significant return to the artist’s native city following years of presentations abroad. Although it included works from different stages of his career, the presentation gave particular prominence to recent paintings rather than following a strictly chronological retrospective. It revealed the continuities and transformations of Khalilov’s visual language, from recognisable landscapes and architectural motifs to increasingly reduced and abstract compositions.
The Absheron Peninsula remained a constant point of reference. Buzovna, Mardakan and Qala, together with the sea, the horizon, trees and the architecture of the peninsula, appeared throughout his work not merely as geographical subjects but as a source of painterly structure and memory.
Works from the series Meeting, Recollection, Earth Patterns and Unexpected View demonstrated how familiar forms could be transformed into independent arrangements of colour, rhythm and space. Across the exhibition, apparent simplicity concealed complex relationships between the visible world and the artist’s internal experience of it.
The presentation also included a painting dedicated to the Khojaly tragedy, extending the exhibition’s emotional register beyond landscape to historical memory.
The opening brought together figures from Azerbaijan’s cultural community and international guests, including Culture Minister Abulfas Garayev. Khalilov addressed the audience. Art historian Leonid Bazhanov emphasised the importance of introducing major artists of earlier generations to younger audiences, while theatre director Robert Sturua spoke about the artist’s international recognition and exhibitions abroad.
Presented within the expansive architecture of the Heydar Aliyev Center, Back in Baku offered an opportunity to consider the breadth of Khalilov’s practice and the consistent artistic concerns underlying its evolution.
