N. Pirosmani’s painting as a subject of creative interpretation in cinema and on stage

In the article the authors o er an interpretation of Niko Pirosmani's work in the movie versions by G. Shangelai and S. Parajanov and the theater production by E. Nyakroshyus. Parajanov and E. Nyakro shyus's theatrical production. The text presents a look at the pictorial heritage of the self taught Georgian artist during the epochs of crisis for the national culture. The socio cultural contexts of the early ХХ century, the 1960s 1980s of the ХХ century and the turn of the ХХ XXI centuries were marked by outbursts of avantgarde art, which actualizes the «child's view» of the world, turned to the primary principles of existence and traditional values of culture, lled with the joy of being and seeking self expression in simple and uncomplicated, but lled with depth forms. All three periods are marked by the discovery of the possibilities of primitive/naive art, allowing a di erent view of the drama of reality. The article notes that N. Pirosmani's work acts as a kind of metaphor through which lm and theater directors seek to nd answers to personally signi cant questions and to comprehend the codes of children's view of the surrounding reality, embedded in the work of N. Pirosmani, turning to the language of contemporary art. The interpretation proposed by G. Shangelaya in the movie «Pirosmani» (1969) is connected with the idea of the inseparability of the artist's life and the subjects of his paintings, which he transferred from the world of everyday life to eternity. S. Parajanov in the lm «Arabesques on the theme of Pirosmani» (1985), using the poetics of lm language and rising to the level of generalization, showed everything that the artist's life consists of: the city, paintings, love, death. E. Nyakroshyus in «Pirosmani, Pirosmani...» (1987) revealed a multitude of things that make up the artist's life: the city, paintings, love, death. (1987) revealed the plurality of the artist's personality, the interpenetrability of fantasy and reality, inherent in Pirosmani's genius, which was not recognized during his lifetime. The authors' analysis shows the connection between di erent periods and the signi cance of primitive art in modern times, where the Georgian artist's work is being «reacquainted».