Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu exhibition opens at Casa Botter.

TÜROB Secretary General İsmail Taşdemir attended the opening programme of the exhibition “With Love, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu” opened at Casa Botter, which has been restored by İBB Miras and repurposed as an Art and Design Center.

Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, who left deep traces in Beyoğlu as in many parts of Istanbul, is meeting art lovers with this exhibition at Casa Botter, one of the landmark buildings of İstiklal Avenue. The exhibition features a special selection of envelopes from letters that reflect the artist's relationships with the cultural and artistic circles of the period. In addition to 142 envelopes that reflect the distinctive visual expression of Bedri Rahmi, who once worked at Narmanlı Han – a neighbour of Casa Botter where his studio was located – the exhibition also features letters written by Fikret Mualla to Bedri Rahmi and the manuscript of the poem “Zindanı Taştan Oyarlar” (Yiğidim Aslanım), which the artist penned for his close friend Nazım Hikmet.

The exhibition, whose opening was held with the participation of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Secretary General Prof. Dr. Volkan Demir, İBB Deputy Secretary General Oktay Özel, İBB Head of the Culture Department Tolga Volkan Aslan, İBB Tourism Branch Manager Hüseyin Gazi Coşan, ICVB General Manager Dr. Cemil Hakan Kılıç, the artist's grandson Rahmi Eyüboğlu, and numerous guests and members of the press, can be visited free of charge until 29 March 2026.

Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu (1911–1975) is one of the prominent figures of the Turkish world of painting and literature. Known as a painter, poet and writer, Eyüboğlu left lasting marks in the fields of painting, mosaic and poetry with his works that brought together Anatolian folk motifs and modern art. This exhibition reveals not only an artist's body of work but also the spirit of an era, its friendships, and its testimonies shaped by art.

Casa Botter is a historic building located on İstiklal Avenue in Beyoğlu, constructed in 1901 in the Art Nouveau style by architect Raimondo D’Aronco. Designed for Jean Botter, the court tailor of Sultan Abdülhamid II, the building was planned as both a residence and a workplace; Türkiye's first fashion house operated on its ground floor. One of the first apartment buildings in Türkiye to use steel construction, the building holds the distinction of being the second building after the Pera Palas Hotel to have an elevator. Having remained neglected for many years, the building was restored in 2023 by İBB Miras and brought back to the city under the name Casa Botter Art and Design Center, transformed into a contemporary cultural and artistic venue while preserving its historic identity.