National artist receives Sandro Botticelli Award

Azerbaijani artist Margarita Karimova-Sokolova has been awarded an international art prize named after Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), one of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance.

The Sandro Botticelli Award is given for stylistic research and originality of expression, Azernews reports.

This is a very important, internationally recognised award for high artistic quality.

The award was awarded in the homeland of the great Florentine, Sandro Botticelli. The ceremony took place at the Borghese Palace with the participation of artists from many countries who distinguished themselves with their artistic and stylistic research.

Margarita Karimova-Sokolova represented Azerbaijan with her masterpiece "Eva," which was included in the international catalogue of the award organisers.

Margarita Karimova-Sokolova was born in Baku. Her great-grandfather was a famous Russian artist, Ivan Ivanovich Sokolov. She studied at the art and graphic faculty of Kuban University and the Academy of Arts named after Repin (St. Petersburg).

She is a member of the Azerbaijan Union of Artists and the USSR (since 1969). She is also a member of the UNESCO International Federation of Artists, a member of the International Art Fund of the Russian Academy of Arts, a vice president of the International Foundation for Aesthetic Development, and a member of the International Association of Artists.

Since 1965, Margarita has participated in exhibitions of Soviet and Azerbaijani artists in various cities of the USSR, Algeria, Germany, the U.S., France, Cuba, Austria, Poland, and Bulgaria.

In 1994-1995, she lived and worked in the U.S. (Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago). Since 1995, she has been living in the city of Cologne (Germany). Her exhibitions are held with great success in many countries.

Margarita Karimova-Sokolova is a prize-winner of the International Art Prize Caravaggio- Great Master of Art (2022), the International Prize Leonardo Da Vinci (2022), the Olympic Artistic Award (2021), and the Artistic Career Prize (2023).