The period spotlighted is exceptionally rich in stylistic trends. It started with the first academic artists in Bulgaria, educated abroad and later created the bridge between religious and worldly painting. Ivan Dimitrov, Nikolay Pavlovich, Georgui Danchov are among them.

Then follow the representatives of painting of country life, which became the main and leading genre after the Liberation in 1878:
Ivan Murkvichka, Ivan Angelov, Anton Mitov, Yaroslav Veshin.

The works of the defendants of symbolism and secession in Bulgarian art are of major interest: Stefan Ivanov, Ivan Milev, Sirak Skitnik, Nikolay Raynov, Goshka Datzov, the early works of Vladimir Dimitrov Maystora.

The development of the impressionism could also be traced in the exhibition through its earliest representatives: Nikola Petrov, Assen Belkovski, Elena Karamihaylova, Elissaveta Consulova-Vazova, Nikola Mihaylov, Nikola Marinov, Nikola Tanev and others.

Viewers will have the possibility to get familiar with the establishment of the separate genres in Bulgarian painting: portrait, landscape, still life, naked body, which started exactly at the beginning of the 20th century. The exhibition clearly demonstrates the opening of our art towards the most topical trends in Europe in the 20 s and their mastering in the conditions of the specific local situation.

Historically, the period is visualized through everyday objects, kindly provided by the National Historic Museum, The Museum of History of Sofia, and the Ethnographic Museum.