Slavka Deneva was a Bulgarian artist, daughter of the artist Boris Denev and Mara Deneva. She studied painting at the State Academy of Arts in Sofia (today the National Academy of Arts) in the class of Dechko Uzunov and P. Panayotov, but did not succeed in graduating, as her graduation work (1953) entitled "Loading Crates of Tomatoes in truck at sunset in the village of Koinare" — was rejected by the Council of the Academy of Arts. However, she began working as a freelance artist. She painted landscapes, portraits and still lifes.

Even with her first works, the artist clearly showed her individuality and gets noticed. She was a person with a rich culture and versatile artistry, an amazingly honest and open person, completely devoted to art and with great reverence for the work of her illustrious father. Despite the difficulties she encountered as an artist with different views from what was accepted back then, she did not stop painting. She often worked simultaneously on several works, the plots of which were equally interesting to her at the moment. She did not sign or date her works, she did not give them titles.The portraits she painted always depicted the person in an interesting setting with different things, her still lifes were rather parts of a specific interior than a collection of different objects; the invisible presence of people is strongly felt in the interior compositions.

Slavka Deneva, like her father, does not fit into the canon of socialist realism and never held a solo exhibition during her lifetime, although she participated in several joint exhibitions. The first solo exhibition was in 1994 - ten years after her death.

In 1993, the "Maintaining Art in Bulgaria" fund was established, which restored many works of Slavka and Boris Denev and displayed a permanent exhibition at 18 Shipka St. (their home, bequeathed by Slavka Deneva to SBH along with over 700 paintings works and nearly 6,000 drawings - hers and her father's). In 1999, the "Boris Denev" and "Slavka Deneva" awards were established, which are awarded every two years.

Some of Slavka Deneva's paintings are exhibited in the National Art Gallery in Sofia, Sofia City Art Gallery and in the galleries in Plovdiv, Pleven, Sliven and Pernik.