Niko Pirosmani

Self-taught painter

1862–1918

Niko Pirosmanashvili painted signboards and pictures for Tiflis taverns (feasts, animals, the «Actress Margarita») on black oilcloth, swiftly and without sketches.

He died in poverty; fame came posthumously. Today Pirosmani is Georgia's most recognisable painter, and his naïve vision has become part of the national myth.