Portrait of Frederica

By 1948 Marinov had been painting his wife Frederica for close to 40 years, and this portrait comes from the very end of that long run. Bulgaria had just become a communist People's Republic, the couple had lived through two world wars, and he was an old man near the close of his career. He returns once more to the face he had known and painted better than any other. Marinov died in Sofia in December of that year, and this is among the last times he set her down on canvas.