Tanya Atanasova
Tanya Atanasova is a Bulgarian-born realist painter based in Antwerp, Belgium. She studied at the National Academy of Art in Sofia, Bulgaria, and graduated with the highest honours. During her studies, she became the Academy’s very first Erasmus student, spending a year at Sint-Lucas Art Academy in Ghent. In 2016, she decided to deepen her knowledge of painting by taking part in as many workshops as possible with talented masters, among them Eloy Morales, Jaime Valero and Lucas Bononi.
Working primarily on large-scale portraits, Tanya explores people and the passage of time. Her paintings often portray people close to her, approaching portraiture as a way of observing human presence and identity. Her work has been exhibited internationally in galleries, museums and art fairs across Europe and North America, and featured in publications including Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, PoetsArtists and Hyperrealism Magazine. Six of her works are also part of Dr. Samuel Peralta’s Lunar Codex, a time capsule of contemporary art travelling to the Moon.
In 2021, Tanya founded FiKVA (Figuratieve Kunst Vandaag), where she serves as Chair and Artistic Director. What began as an initiative to bring greater attention to contemporary realism has grown into an international platform connecting painters, art professionals and audiences. Through the International FiKVA Award, exhibitions, masterclasses and educational projects, she works to create opportunities for artists, encourage artistic exchange and give greater visibility to hand-painted figurative art.
Alongside her own practice, Tanya works as a curator and serves on the juries of international art competitions, including the International FiKVA Award (Belgium), MiniARTures (Belgium), the Titian Competition (Italy/China) and the Le Venezie International Watercolour Festival (Italy).
