Alexander Petrov – Lavandulata was born on 16th of February, 1916 in Nevsha, in the region of Varna. In 1940 he graduated from The Art Academy of Sofia, under the teaching of prof. Boris Mitov. From then on he was participating in almost every exhibition of the Union of the Bulgarian Artists. He has organized two solo exhibitions in Sofia, one in Stara Zagora, and one in France. He has participated in numerous international and collective exhibitions of Bulgarian artists abroad: Venice, Paris, Vienna, New-Chattel, Moscow, Alger. Some of his works belong to The National Art Gallery, The Sofia City Gallery, the city galleries of almost every big Bulgarian city, as well as to many government and private collections.
His works are distinguished by intensive colorfulness and emphasized decoration character. He worked predominantly in the field of landscapes and figurative compassions with the usage of different techniques. During the WWII (1944-1945) he was military painter in Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria. From there he brought a lot of drawings on the military subject, with which he took role in the exhibition “Front and back” (1944). Later he continued the creation of military paintings – “Descant and Drava” (1947). During 1958 he went for a first time in the Rose Valley and recreated the habits and labor of the peasants there, starting the two series “Lavender” and “Rose gathering”, which he continued to fulfill later on. By embodying the folklore matter in them he developed his own painting style and his specific picturesque expression.
During 1960 he visited Middle Asia and created water-color and pastel series – “Market in Buhara” (1961), “Landscape of Hiva” (1961), etc., which he showed at his first solo exhibition in 1961 in Sofia. From Paris he brought the water-color series – “Saint Deny”, “Seine”, “Bookinists”, “Bar”, “Terrace Atlantic”, “Sabyl Dolon”, etc. In 1968 he went in France again, organized a solo exhibition and created new series “Student strikes”, “Paris – Seine”, “Cafeteria”, etc.