Daver Darende’s “Anısına Saygıyla” in Ankara: A Diplomat-Painter’s Istanbul, Remembered

Few painters have carried their city as faithfully across borders as Daver Darende. A diplomat whose postings took him abroad, he kept returning — on canvas — to the trams of Beyoğlu, the ferries of the Bosphorus and the plane trees of old Istanbul. Three years after his death, Daver Darende’s “Anısına Saygıyla” at Medya Sanat Galerisi in Ankara brings those pictures back together, from 16 October to 11 November 2026.

Daver Darende: a double life in diplomacy and painting

Born in Istanbul, Darende followed the path of the Turkish foreign service while building, in parallel, a serious practice as a painter. According to profiles published by 24 Saat Gazetesi, he began painting in Munich in 1977 and held his first solo exhibition in Ankara in 1982. From 1982 to 1985 he worked in Warsaw in the studio of Nejad Melih Devrim, the Istanbul-born abstract painter who had made his name in postwar Paris and later worked in Poland — an apprenticeship that connected Darende to one of the most cosmopolitan figures in modern Turkish art.

Poland remained important. Darende exhibited in Warsaw, Kraków, Gliwice and Gdańsk, received an honorary diploma and a bronze medal in Kraków, and saw a 1986 work acquired by the Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts. He also showed in Dubai and Paris and took part in group exhibitions in London and Tokyo; two of his works entered the collection of Japan’s Prince Tomohito of Mikasa.

Writer, columnist, painter

Retirement did not slow him down. Darende wrote 14 books — among them Çok Renktir İstanbul and Çınarların Gölgesinde — and was a long-time columnist for Cumhuriyet. The titles alone signal his preoccupations: Istanbul as a city of many colours, life lived in the shade of its great plane trees. Words and images ran on the same track. He died in Ankara in November 2023; a memorial exhibition at the same gallery in May 2024 was counted as his 40th solo show.

What the exhibition shows

Anısına Saygıyla — “with respect to his memory” — is a selection of works from different periods rather than a strict chronology. Istanbul is the dominant subject: the historic tram on İstiklal, ferries cutting across the Bosphorus, plane trees, old buildings, crowded streets and figures. Reviewers of his earlier memorial show singled out his particular handling of colour and stain, with blues and oranges leading the palette. That loose, stained application keeps the cityscapes from tipping into postcard nostalgia; the paint is allowed to bleed, pool and blur, the way memory does.

There is a gentle civic gesture, too. According to the announcements, some of Darende’s books are offered for sale during the exhibition in support of animal welfare.

Why an Istanbul painter belongs in Ankara

It may seem odd to see Istanbul celebrated in the capital, but Darende’s story is very much an Ankara story. The capital is the city of ministries and embassies, and many of its residents spent their careers, like him, serving abroad and longing for somewhere else. Medya Sanat Galerisi in Çankaya has now hosted him twice since his death, giving a local audience — colleagues, readers of his columns, collectors — a place to gather around his work.

Who should go

• Painters interested in how an expressive, stain-based technique can renew a familiar urban subject.
• Collectors of Turkish modern and contemporary painting with international exhibition histories, particularly those with an interest in the Devrim circle.
• Istanbul lovers living in Ankara, for whom these trams and ferries will feel like a short trip home.

Visiting information

Medya Sanat Galerisi, Üsküp Caddesi (formerly Çevre Sokak) No 35, ground floor, Çankaya, Ankara. 16 October – 11 November 2026. The gallery has not published hours or contact details online, so please check with the venue before visiting. Exhibition details come from Sanattan Yansımalar and 24 Saat Gazetesi. See our Anısına Saygıyla listing and more Ankara and Istanbul shows on Upcoming Art Exhibitions in Leading Galleries.