An exhibition "Watercolor - the Soul of Painting" and the presentation of the catalog book by Intigam Jafarov titled "Contemporary Azerbaijani Watercolorists" have been held at Khatai Arts Center.

At the opening, the director of the Khatai Arts Center Zahid Avazov, the head of Emedia Group, Elshan Aliyev, the Honored Artist Rais Rasulzade, and others spoke about the development of watercolor art in Azerbaijan.

Watercolor is a form of visual art that combines the characteristics of painting and graphics. It takes from painting the richness of color and the wide artistic possibilities for modeling forms. From graphics, it has adopted the technique of thin layering of paint (without relief) and the use of paper not just as a material, but as an artistic element as well, with the background becoming a space, or "air."

Watercolor works are more voluminous than graphic pieces but more airy than painted canvases. This technique originated in ancient China in the 2nd century with the invention of paper. Classical European watercolor emerged in the 15th-16th centuries and flourished in England at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries.

The author of the idea for the exhibition and the publication of the book, Intigam Jafarov, head of the Sumgayit representation of the International Watercolor Society, noted that the main goal of creating the catalog book "Contemporary Azerbaijani Watercolorists" is to increase interest in works created using the watercolor technique.