Irina Genova

Prof. Irina Genova, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the New Bulgarian University (NBU) and holds a concurrent position at the Institute for the Study of Arts, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Her work focuses on modern art, avant-garde movements, and cross-cultural exchanges between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, particularly France. She has participated in international conferences at the University of Chicago, Ghent University, and the University of Burgundy, and her research explores mural arts, realism vs. modernism debates, and art historiography in postwar Bulgaria.

• PhD in Art History
• Member of AICA (President of Bulgarian section, 1997–1999) and ICOMOS (2011)

Her research interests span modern art in Eastern Europe, visual culture, cultural transfer, and art education during the pandemic. She has curated international projects like 'Nikolay Dulgherov: Multiple Artistic Identity' and co-edited publications on modernism, symbolism, and women artists. Her recent articles analyze the Bulgarian reception of French visual culture, biennale participation, and the synthesis of realism and modernism in postwar mural art.

Prof. Genova has received the Art Criticism Award (1996) and fellowships from the Paul Getty Foundation, Center for Academic Studies in Sofia, and New Europe College. She has contributed to art education reform and digital humanities, with a focus on graphic arts, biennales, and the impact of the internet on art knowledge.