Art is a world of symbols, and the artist as a guide in this world through his works gives us the opportunity to know their secret essence. One of the interesting examples of art symbols are doors. This meaningful image is interpreted metaphorically and allegorically by Turkmen painters around the main theme – the house as a family hearth.

The doors are closed to protect us from what is on the other side, to keep warm, to protect loved ones. Doors open to bring light, greet friends and explore the world. Growing out of this "borderline state", the door often appears in works of art that we see in museums and galleries, at exhibitions of contemporary authors, and for each of them it carries a unique concept and idea.

Life is a choice of each step. These are exactly the "doors" that mean entrance and exit at the same time. Sometimes we can only guess when we stand at the threshold, what is behind the door? Joy or chagrin, surprise or disappointment, challenge or decision? Whatever it is, you can only find out by opening the door. In or out.

This visible and invisible border of our external and internal world excites the artist's imagination as a mysterious old parable, the beginning of which happened to be heard in childhood, the continuation – with age, but the ending is unknown. Therefore, the door in each creative work has its own unique and non-fictional history.

...On the canvases of Bayramdurdy Nuryyev, you can often see a door and a tamdyr next to it – a direct reference to the traditional home life of Turkmens. In one of the paintings, the artist depicted the door of the house from which the boy comes out as an invitation to the world of our childhood, where it is light and calm in the soul, where maternal warmth and carelessness are blowing.

But there is also a poignant drama in another painting by Bayramdurdy, where one door remained from the former yurt - the entrance to a person's past, where everything was different, where the voices of parents and wife, the laughter of children, the music of dutar were heard, where the air was saturated with the aroma of cooked pilaf and everything breathed comfort and care. And now a man stands alone on the threshold of a house that does not exist, and only the doorway reminds of the past...

Doors keep a deep spiritual secret, they are a barrier that must be overcome before crossing the threshold that separates things, spaces, meanings and memory into before and after. So in the painting by the artist Malik Gochmuradov there is a dilapidated door to the heroine's childhood, to her own universe, where babies are wrapped in what remains of the older firstborn, and a special aftertaste from a piece of bread. A closed door is the protection of this girl's world, and at the same time, the fact that she is outside this door means the transition from childhood to adulthood.

And here is a door with hooks and locks in a philosophical painting by the artist Rustem Abdullayev. This is a story about an old woman invisible to the viewer's eye, who in the past tried to retire in her world from people and locked the doors of her house with all the latches and locks. And so, at sunset, she closes the door on a single weak hook with the hope that relatives, neighbors, and guests from a new life will come and visit... Or maybe it's because she has nothing to be afraid of anymore, as she realized. The door in this artist's painting is both a symbol of limitation, constraint, and a symbol of coming freedom.

The artist Ovezmuhammet Lallykov depicted a dog sitting next to a door with a large lock hanging on it. The owner has been gone for a long time, but she is waiting, gazing into the distance with longing and endless hope. And it will definitely wait. For all the hopelessness that the picture evokes at first glance, the echoing emphasis of the lock and brackets on the white door, which plays the role of the second character, inspires optimism and faith in a good conclusion to this story.

For all peoples, the dove is a symbol of kindness, love, and peace. The "Bird of Happiness" in the painting of the same name by Arslan Atakhanov sat on the door, which in this case is a symbol of the transition to a better, brighter, righteous life.

Open doors have always been considered a symbol of hospitality for Turkmens, cordiality, expectation of pleasant and joyful events. And the confirmation is the paintings of Kurban Babatajov.

The door is the border between the new and the old, the mystery and warmth of human souls, hope and joy ...

We are going to the exhibition again in anticipation of discoveries, opening the doors to a new world of impressions.

Tajigul KURBANOVA