Nicolae GRIGORESCU (Pitaru, Dambovita, 1838 - Campina, 1907)

His paintings were shown at the Paris Salon in 1868, at the Bucharest Exhibitions of Living Artists (since 1870) and at the Art Exhibitions of the "Les Amis des Beaux-Arts" Society (since 1873). During 1873-1874 he would go on a study tour to Italy, Vienna, Greece and Constantinopole. As front painter, he joined the troops in the 1877-1878 Independence War, and realised drawings which were to inspire his later compositions. One year after the Independence War he would paint in France, mostly in Bretagne, at Vitre, and at his Paris studio for twelve years (1879-1890). After his coming back, a succession of personal exhibitions would be organized at the Romanian Athenaeum in 1891, 1895, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1904. He built a house at Campina, later to become the "Nicolae Grigorescu" Museum. At the dawn of modern Romanian culture, a time originating Eminescu's poetical genius, the pictorial language of Grigorescu became highly innovative. Grigorescu's painting art, diverse as it was, from that of a young mural painter to that of an Impressionistic School cognizer, was always on the acme and reverberated in the 20th century, long after his death. Father of modern Romanian painting, with Andreescu and Luchian as successors, Grigorescu was the great master worshipped by new generations of artists, who, early this century, were striving to reveal the profound wealth of the Romanian soul.
The uniqueness of his style and vision is to be remarked in portraits (D. Grecescu, Carol Davila, Andreescu at Barbizon), in self-portraits, in his compositions on the Independence War (Atacul de la Smardan/Attack at Smardan, Rosior calare/A mounted rosior, Scenele cu prizonieri turci/Scenes with Turkish prisoners), in his several "Oxen Carts" pictures, in the country landscapes and the landscapes painted elsewhere (La Posada/At Posada, Pescarita din Granville/The Grainville Fisherwoman, Raspantie in oras la Vitre/Crossroads at Vitre, Batrana din Brolle/The Old Woman in Brolle, Bordei in padure/A Wood Hut, Peisaj de toamna/An Autumn Landscape). His French "plein-air" experience matured into bringing light in his work and into rendering his composition genuinely rigorous and spontaneous.
The reality in his pictures is profoundly unaltered. The "secret geometry" of the picture keeps it unaltered, while, in the forefront, events seem to take place and the colours are bewildering. Grasping reality as the light changes it was one of the painter's great pleasures. In doing so he never got tired with the visible world. He was not prone to looking for picturesque in it, but to finding the valuable depth of a too common reality.

Crossroads at Vitre / Raspintie in oras la Vitre	Paesant Woman Wearing an Embroidered Silk Headkerchief / Taranca cu marama
Attack at Smardan / Atacul de la Smardan
Girls working in front of the Gate / Fete lucrand la poarta

Last update: 2004, October 25
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