STARTING 27 NOVEMBER 2019
THEMATIC EXHIBITION AT THE SUȚU PALACE
GHEORGHE PETRAȘCU – REMINISCENTIA 70
In 2019, when we commemorate 70 years since Gheorghe Petrașcu’s death, a remarkable artist of the past century, the Art Department of the Bucharest Municipality Museum wishes to pay him homage through a temporary exhibition (the first one dedicated to him). This exhibition will be integrated in the new project initiated by the Bucharest Pinacotheque: Life – Still Life, which is to be opened in October 2019, at the Suțu Palace (2 I.C. Brătianu Street).
The exhibition, opening on November 27th 2019, will feature paintings and drawings by Gheorghe Petrașcu, which have never been exhibited or which have not been available to the public since 1930 – 1950 or since his great retrospective in 1972.
Although he lived and worked in a time of artistic fervor, having been one of the founding members of Artistic Youth Society which activated in the first decades of the past century, the artist was not influenced by artistic trends and remained an independent creative whose talent preserved a touch of Romanian sensibility.
An immensly prestigious artist, considered one of the most personal and original Romanian painters, Gheorghe Petrașcu focused his entire work on a limited thematic register, such as landscapes, still natures and genre paintings, but a work containing the endless richness of his shiny and precious color palette. He revered Nicolae Grigorescu and his work and aproached landscape painting from the very beginning, a subject which represents a large part of his oeuvre. He painted in most regions of the country, being especially fascinated with simple motifs: village houses, market fairs, churches, historic ruins.
Furthermore, Gheorghe Petrașcu painted in Dobrogea, especially in the many settlements on the sea shore, from Sulina to Balcic, and also in the settlements on the Danube banks, such as Tulcea and Silistra. He also painted cityscapes, which prioritized the monumental architecture. His trips in France, where he painted the churches and streets of Vitré, Senlis or Morlaix, or his trips in Italy, offered him a rich thematic palette.
The exhibition represents the confirmation of Gheorghe Petrașcu’s timelessness, as he can still be considered a present day artist. Art critic Vasile Florea appreciated that the process of revealing the meanings of the artist’s creation „will be concluded with great difficulty because of its vastness and rich meanings”.
Phd. Cand Date Ana Maria Măciucă, museologist
Bucharest Municipality Museum Pinacotheque