Turkish artist Burhan Doğançay passed away on Jan. 15 at the age of 83. According to Bergin Azer, director of the Doğançay Museum in Istanbul, the artist was being treated at that city's American Hospital for an undisclosed illness when he died.

A prolific artist who made around 4,000 paintings throughout his career, Doğançay was awarded the Medal of Appreciation in 1992 by the Ministry of Culture in Russia and the National Medal for the Arts for Lifetime Achievement and Cultural Contribution in 1995 by the president of the Turkish Republic. His 1987 painting Mavi Senfoni (Blue Symphony) sold for $1.7 million dollars at auction in 2009 at Turkey's leading auction house, Antik A.S., the highest price paid for a contemporary painting in that country.

In 2004, the artist established the Dogançay Museum to display his works. He has examples in the collections of New York's Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The artist was fascinated with walls, which he saw walls as symbols of social, political and economic change. Over almost 50 years, he created an archive of more than 30,000 images of walls from 114 countries, tracking graffiti and other changes.