A well-known artist of Turkey: Every work is the energy given to you by Allah

Turan: Despite the fact that you showed so much interest in painting since childhood, you were not directly admitted to the Tbilisi Art Academy, but to the Azimzade Baku Art School. What was the reason?

Ağalıoğlu: The reason was that I wanted to start my professional painting education from the lowest level. I was not allowed to enter the train because of a problem with my ticket. However, I had to make it to the next day's exam. After walking for a while holding on to a part of the rearmost carriage, the conductors saw me and pulled me into the carriage. I went to the exam early in the morning and was accepted to the Azimzade Art School.

Turan: What did Azimzade Baku Art School give you in your formation as an artist?

Ağalıoğlu: First of all, it taught discipline. The discipline created by the director of the school, Eyyub Mammadov, has always been an example for me. All our teachers were masters of their craft, and I learned a lot from them. At the end of the second year, my teacher Rafig Aghayev said that I was ready to study at the Tbilisi Art Academy. I passed the exams and entered the Tbilisi Art Academy.

Turan: What was the main difference between the Tbilisi Art Academy and the art environment in Azerbaijan at that time?

Ağalıoğlu: The students who came there from Azerbaijan graduated with whatever knowledge they came with. They did not develop themselves in terms of ideas and thoughts. Georgian students, in terms of ideas and thoughts, were especially influenced by French impressionism. The main difference was freedom of thought. Our teachers tried to make us grow up as free-thinking artists as possible, not as people who draw stereotypical pictures.

Georgians admired Sattar Bahlulzade. When I was still in high school, I saw Sattar and loved his personality. To this day, he is my favorite artist worldwide and the one who has influenced me the most. When I was studying at the Azimzade Art School, I wanted to go to Sattar's studio and meet him. The workshop was closed. After a short time, they took him to Moscow for treatment, then he died, I was not lucky enough to meet him.

Sattar's brush flies and dances on the canvas, his brushstrokes are different from everyone else. I can't look at the works of his and other impressionist artists in their books, I go and see the originals of their works in museums as far as I can afford.

Turan: Do you think it is very difficult to create impressionist works of art after Bahlulzade?

Ağalıoğlu: Mevlânâ has a saying: everything was created before us, no one can create anything new, and everyone can add a little each time. Both Henri Matisse and Cézanne used Chinese miniatures. We know that Picasso and Matisse went to North Africa to search. Can you imagine, during the Safavid era, Shah Ismail Khatai opened a Miniature School? Kamaladdin Behzad's Tabriz Miniature School is still ranked first in the world.

Turan: When you were studying in Baku, which of the avant-garde artists were you interested in?

Ağalıoğlu: Rasim Babayev, Toghrul Narimanbeyov, and Tahir Salahov were very attractive to us at that time. We saw Rasim Babayev as an artist opposed to the trend of socialist realism.

Turan: And Mirjavad?

Ağalıoğlu: If you want to know the truth, we did not know Mirjavad at that time. Because neither his exhibition was opened nor the articles about him were printed.

Turan: The history of professional painting in Georgia is older than in Azerbaijan, am I right?

Ağalıoğlu: Yes, you are. In the 19th century, they have an important artist named Kabashvili. But Pirosmani is a naive artist. Until the age of 20, he was with a rich Azerbaijani. People who see his works say that they will draw this too. But they are not right. I saw what a great artist he was at his exhibition in Tbilisi. You can't judge art by looking at postcards. You should feel the art with your emotions. It is not enough to get a very good education. What difference does it make if the tube of the stove, which does not burn and does not give heat, is made of gold?

Turan: About a month ago, 650 paintings allegedly belonging to Sattar Bahlulzade were put up for sale on the Internet, and a price of 18.5 million was set for one of them. How do you feel about it?

Ağalıoğlu: Are those paintings original? Did they come from Sattar's brush? First of all, it needs to be clarified. I'm not so hopeful.

Turan: How do you evaluate painting by looking at a photo?

Ağalıoğlu: I cannot make a copy of my work myself. Mostly, I work outdoors. There the brush itself works. I can't work like that in closed areas. When looking at the work from a distance, it is necessary to know who it belongs to. An art lover told Sattar Bahlulzade to sign this painting. He got angry and said to the man, "Isn't it known that it's me even without a signature?" The ancients in the East did not put signatures under the paintings, it was known by the style which artist the work belonged to. The yeast of creativity is love, every work you create with love is the energy given to you by Allah, so you don't need to sign it.

The artist knows when the energy will come. Not every painting can be considered a work of art. Because everything is a drop, when you put those drops together, a perfect work of art appears, and you can call yourself an artist.