About Years and Dating

1970s  |  1980s  |  1990s  |  1990s: A Different Series  |  2000s  |  2010s  |  2020s  |  All Paintings

The paintings in the Nafi Çil Paintings Archive are grouped into ten-year intervals, spanning from 1970—when the artist established his first independent studio—to the present. This approach was adopted both to facilitate the navigation of a large number of works and because it was considered the most relatively neutral form of classification. Any attempt to establish a direct relationship between specific years and particular themes or content has been deliberately avoided. It is assumed that art historians and critics examining this archive may identify different temporal groupings based on the themes and contents they discern in Nafi Çil’s paintings.

For the paintings that did not have a date indicated upon them, the dating was based on the painting’s exhibition date and/or the date it was photographed. If the exact year could not be determined, the abbreviation “c.” for circa (e.g., c. 1990) was used to indicate an approximate date. If it was certain that the painting belonged to one of two consecutive years, a slash, “/” was used (e.g., 1990/1991). For years that were understood to fall between exhibition and photography dates but could not be further specified, an “‘s” was added (e.g., 2000s).

In addition, Nafi Çil has revisited some of his paintings. For these works, both the year Çil began the painting and the year he completed it are indicated. If he worked on the painting intermittently over a period, a “dash” was used (e.g., 1980-2012). If he made a single intervention after many years, the abbreviation for revised “Rev.”, (e.g., 1980, Rev. 2012) was used. If he made changes to the painting in several different years, the years were separated by “commas” (e.g., 1980, 2000, 2012). The dating was done based on the degree of change he made to the theme and composition of the painting. In cases where the intervention did not significantly alter the essence of the painting, the date of the original creation of the painting stands as the official date; otherwise, the finalization date is used.