The third Sofia Art Fair concluded with artwork sales totaling nearly half a million euros and the highest number of visitors in the event’s history. Held from October 8 to 11 at Sofia Tech Park, the international contemporary art fair also set records for the number of international participants, visits by children and young people, and guests from abroad.
The dates for the fourth edition have also been announced: October 7–10, 2027.
Twenty-seven galleries and exhibitors participated in the third edition, showcasing works by 88 artists from around the world. Visitors from six European countries traveled to Sofia for the fair, while organized school visits gave over two hundred children and young people the opportunity to experience contemporary art up close.
“This year, we saw what can be achieved when organizers, galleries, artists, and institutions work together for the benefit of Bulgarian visual art. Behind these results lie three years of hard work and a growing number of people who believe in its value. For Bulgarian artists, this means more opportunities to gain visibility and establish international connections. For the public, it means access to a vast array of art in one place—something that might otherwise take years to experience. We want to continue building this environment together,” said Suni Danadji, the lead organizer of the Sofia Art Fair. At the opening ceremony, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev announced that, starting next year, the Sofia Art Fair would become a strategic event for the capital. The fair was officially opened by the Minister of Culture, Evtim Miloshev.
Sales exceeding €500,000, driven almost entirely by Bulgarian collectors
Sales by the Italian gallery Pinksummer (Genoa)—which showcased this year’s star artist, Tomás Saraceno—alone surpassed €200,000.
By the end of the fourth day, the total value of artworks sold had reached nearly half a million euros—the highest figure recorded across the three editions of the Sofia Art Fair to date—with sales traditionally continuing even after the fair concludes.
A post-fair survey of exhibitors revealed a unanimous consensus that this was the best-curated edition of the three held so far. The fair’s artistic director was Stefan Stoyanov—an international curator, art dealer, and gallerist—who developed a specific layout concept for the booths and collaborated with nearly all exhibitors to present works to the Bulgarian public and collectors that had been specially selected or created for the event.
Works created specifically for the third edition of the Sofia Art Fair included the installation *Chromosome* by artist Eve Toshaïn—which merges the concepts of the St. Andrew’s Cross and the double X of the female chromosome—and digital artworks by Marin Petkov, one of the co-creators of the LUNAR festival. Specially for SAF 2026, the event featured miniature paintings by English artist Lee Edwards, who uses oil paints to create portraits of the significant women in his life on chestnuts and tiny scraps of wood—all without the aid of magnifying tools.
The audience viewed works spanning painting, sculpture, photography, installations, video, and digital and interdisciplinary art, with many exhibitors modifying their pieces throughout the fair. Highlights included works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude never before shown in Bulgaria, among them the exhibition’s most expensive piece: an original collage related to the monumental “Mastaba” project. International participation included two galleries each from Italy and Romania, and one each from the Netherlands, Turkey, Georgia, and Hungary. For the first time, a non-private gallery took part in the Sofia Art Fair: “Depo Savremie” (Contemporary Depot), an open exhibition zone affiliated with the Kazanlak Art Gallery, established as a dynamic space to showcase contemporary artists from the region.
Young visitors viewed the installation “The Videogames of Our Lives”—a collaboration between the Good Game Festival and TDB Play—with great curiosity. It recreated the setting of a living room and a child’s bedroom from the early 1990s, serving as part of an exploration of Bulgaria’s history over the last six decades at the intersection of global technology, gaming culture, and its unique Bulgarian manifestation. Older visitors revisited their childhoods, interacting with the “Pravets” computer, the red corded phone, and the yellow telephone directory—where some even managed to find their grandparents’ numbers.
Vladimir Yavachev at the SAF Talks discussion program
The SAF Talks discussion program also drew significant interest. From October 9 to 11, the program connected visitors with artists, curators, collectors, gallerists, and international experts. Participants included Georgi Toshev, Lachezar Boyadzhiev, and Guillaume Piens—director of the Art Paris contemporary art fair—as well as speakers from the Netherlands and Austria. While Vladimir Yavachev’s participation was the most anticipated highlight, the audience also followed discussions on Bulgaria’s participation in the Venice Biennale with keen interest and numerous questions discussions on art promotion, mentorship, and collecting.
The next Sofia Art Fair: October 7–10, 2027
The dates for the fourth edition of the Sofia Art Fair have been announced: October 7–10, 2027, once again at Sofia Tech Park.
Photos: Iliyan Ruzhin and Iva Rusnakova-Ruzhin
The event is organized by the Sofia Breathes Foundation, with Art & Culture Today as co-organizer.
Sofia Art Fair 2026 is realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and is part of the National Cultural Calendar for 2026.
Sofia Art Fair is also supported financially by Sofia Municipality and is part of the Municipality’s 2026 Cultural Events Calendar.
The main partner of Sofia Art Fair is the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
Institutional partners also include the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Embassy of the French Republic and the French Institute in Bulgaria, and the Austrian Cultural Forum Sofia.