House Museum of Niko Pirosmani in Mirzaani

There are many masters in the history of painting who have created their own world, unique and inimitable. Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani, or simply Nikala, holds an honorable place among them.

House Museum of Niko Pirosmani in Mirzaani, Georgia is located in the old village cottage where prominent Georgian primitivist artist Niko Pirosmani (1862-1918) lived out the final years of his life. The small brick building with a terrace was built at the end of the 19th century by Pirosmani himself. It opened as a museum in 1960, with the exhibition hall added in 1979.

Niko Pirosmani was a self-taught Georgian primitivist painter who was discovered in 1912 by the brothers Ilya and Kirile Zdanevich and the Frenchman Mikhail Le Dantiou. Pirosmani led a difficult life full of hardships and poverty, and it was only after his death that his works gradually gained recognition in Georgia, Russia and around the world. Paintings by Pirosmani have even been exhibited in the Louvre.

House Museum of Niko Pirosmani in Mirzaani contains more than 9000 exhibits. A highlight is the 14 original paintings by Pirosmani, including "Sona Plays the Harmony", "Tsarafi", "Kalooba", "Mercy and Easter Eggs", "Worker", "Shota Rustaveli" and "Queen Tamar". The artist’s personal belongings, "Portrait of Pirosmani" by Pablo Picasso, works by other famous Georgian artists and a rich collection of carpets, pottery and household tools dated to that time period are also on display.

Visitors will learn not only about Niko Pirosmani but also the development of Georgian art and culture in the 19th-early 20th centuries. In addition to the main location, House Museum of Niko Pirosmani in Mirzaani has three additional branches in Tbilisi, Dedoplistskaro and Zemo Machkhaani.