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| NICOLAE GRIGORESCU (17.11.2007) |
| (2007-11-16) |
| Last updated: 2007-11-16 18:13 EET |
This year we celebrate 100 years since the death of the great 19th century painter, Nicolae Grigorescu. The best known Romanian painter abroad, Grigorescu painted icons and sold them to earn a living, but also to support his many brothers when his father died. He was barely 15 when he received commissions from several monasteries to create and paint frescoes. Those in Caldarusani and Zamfira (Wallachia) and in Agapia (Moldavia) are the most beautiful and have been preserved. To this day, Romanian politician and intellectual Mihail Kogalniceanu was an admirer of Grigorescu’s work and talent, and helped him get a scholarship in Paris.
The young Romanian painter passed the entrance exam at the Fine Arts School in Paris, although he wasn’t used to working in pencil and charcoal. In 1862 he made a trip to Barbizon, a small village lying on the outskirts of the famous Fontainebleau forest nearby Paris.
But what exactly did that visit mean for the young painter? With details, here is art critic Mariana Vida.
“The majestic forest with its magnificent trees triggered hidden sentiments in the young artist, perfectly tying-in with a sense of the poetry of his native country. He was conquered by nature’s grandiose and ever-changing landscape. Here in Barbizon, Grigorescu was accepted right away among the great names of French painting at that time. These included Corot, Millet, Monet, and Renoir. All of them were attracted by outdoor painting (known as “en plein air” painting). Actually it was Grigorescu who introduced this style to Romanian painting.”
Grigorescu dropped out of the Fine Arts School as he wanted more to work in the middle of nature. In the following years he commuted between his studios in Paris and Bucharest, his outdoor “studios” in Fontainebleau and the beautiful Romanian landscape in the Muscel region. Grigorescu also visited Italy, Greece and Turkey, several times.
In 1869, Grigorescu was admitted to the famous Art Salon in Paris with a series of paintings that stood proof of his artistic maturity. Other solo and group exhibitions mounted in Paris and Bucharest followed, with the paintings being unanimously acclaimed by critics. Emperor Napoleon the 3rd himself, one of Romania’s great friends, purchased some of Grigorescu’s works.
Nicolae Grigorescu left a tremendous number of works behind – about four thousand paintings. He had four main themes: portraits, landscapes, flowers and historical scenes. Speaking again is art critic Mariana Vida.
“He was a great portrait painter and sometimes his portraits bear traces of Rembrandt in terms of atmosphere, the study of light and shadows, and lighting effects. His portraits range from the Romanian dignitary Nasturel Herescu, and his portraits of Jews (The Jew with the caftan, the Art Lover, the Jew with the goose), to portraits of anonymous French people (The Guardian in Chailly, the Breton beggar, the Old Woman from Brolle, to mention but a few of them). “A Flower among Flowers” stands apart in his work, being a real treasure, currently exhibited at Romania’s Art Museum; the artist depicted, tenderly and lovingly, one of the daughters of the great French painter Millet, whom he fell in love with and from whom fate parted him.”
During Romania’s War for Independence (1877-1878), Grigorescu was sent to the war front as a reporter, where he made an impressive number of portraits of soldiers from both sides, as well as on the battlefield. In 1899 Grigorescu was elected an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.
Quite often Grigorescu’s portraits capture characters in the middle of nature, such as the series of peasant men and women and Romanian shepherds.
After 1990, a series of paintings by Grigorescu were again exhibited in France, at the great exhibition of “Romanian Impressionism”, but also at Grigorescu’s solo exhibition mounted in 2006 in Agen and Barbizon. So, if you happen to be in Bucharest, the Romanian Art Museum is well worth a visit, where a retrospective Grigorescu exhibition is open until March the 30th, 2008.
(Magdalena Militaru)
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