World Health Day is celebrated annually on April 7. Its goals are to draw attention to pressing healthcare issues, raise public awareness about healthy lifestyles, and promote international cooperation in these areas. The theme of World Health Day 2026 is “Together for Health.”
To mark this occasion, an exhibition of paintings and small-scale sculptures has been organized at the State Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibits are thematically divided into sports and medical categories. All of them come from the museum’s reserves, meaning they are well-known works created by outstanding Turkmen artists, most of whom, unfortunately, are no longer with us.
Tamara Kiseleva, who celebrates her 90th birthday this year, is the author of portraits of two famous athletes—Jennet Geldibaeva, a multiple sambo champion and silver medalist at the Youth Games in Singapore, and Gulbadam Babamuradova, a wrestling champion. Both portraits are executed in the same technique, which unites them not only by their sports theme but also by the artist’s distinctive style. Incidentally, these paintings are frequently displayed at various exhibitions.
Sergey Beglyarov’s well-known painting “Chess Players,” created from an unusual perspective, has become a model for many contemporary artists. The painting “Football Players” was created by Annadurdy Almammedov in 1971. Since then, football uniforms have changed many times, yet the passion and skill of the players have remained just as high. In his work “Cyclists,” Chary Ovvayev conveys the tense moment experienced by athletes before the start on the velodrome. These and other exhibited paintings naturally inspire viewers to take up one of the sports.
An elegant gymnast training with a hoop is depicted in a sculpture by Alexey Shchetinin. The artist titled his work “Gymnast,” embodying youth, beauty, and health in sculpture. Nearby stands a small sculpture titled “Avicenna” by Molla Seyitmyradov. The sage, poet, and physician of the ancient East occupies a place of honor at the exhibition dedicated to World Health Day and held under the theme “Together for Health.”
Among the first visitors to the museum are mostly students of the Turkmen State Medical University named after Myrat Garryev. “We visit the exhibition organized at the museum for World Health Day every year with our students,” says Govkher Ovezova, a lecturer at the Department of Medical Ecology and Hygiene. “We are especially drawn to the paintings depicting medical workers providing assistance to the population.”
Several decades separate us from the doctors portrayed in these paintings, yet the methods of modern medical diagnostics have changed dramatically. The rapid development of medicine inspires our students to successfully master their noble profession. Among the works on medical themes are “Maternity Hospital” by Yakup Annanurov, “On Guard of Health” by Ivan Myagkov, “Boris Smirnov” by Chary Amangeldiyev, and many others. All these works reflect milestones in the development of medicine, which is responsible for the health of the nation.
