Nicolae Grigorescu (1838 - 1907) stands as the founding father of modern Romanian painting - a visionary who brought light, nature, and humanity to the forefront of art. Inspired by the Barbizon School yet uniquely original, Grigorescu transformed rural life and the Romanian landscape into poetic celebrations of beauty and truth. His portraits and peasant scenes reveal both realism and tenderness, capturing the soul of a nation through color, light, and simplicity.
Portrait of Grigorescu
Nicolae Grigorescu (born May 15, 1838, Pitaru, Dâmbovița County, died July 21, 1907, Câmpina) is the first of the founders of modern Romanian painting, followed by Ion Andreescu and Ștefan Luchian . G. Oprescu wrote about him that he was “ independent of the Impressionists, among the first painters who realize the qualitative value of a clear, luminous picture, executed directly, in front of the motif ”, (N. Grigorescu, Ed. Meridiane, Bucharest 1961, vol I, p.128). For the visual arts in Romania, Grigorescu is the one who awakens artists’ interest in nature, who develops plein-air and masterfully exploits light, transforming them into the essential elements of painting. Grigorescu’s impressionist painting certainly has a personal character – thanks to his own technique, surpassing in value and originality what we consider to belong to the Barbizon school. With a calm boldness, unusual for the culture of the 19th century, he liquidated the historicism and traditionalism of neoclassical and religious painting, despised sentimental vehemence, banished the shadows and pallor of light. He looks at the sky with careful sensitivity, discovers the clouds in their infinite variety of shapes and shades. He paints the transparency of the air, the subtleties of grays.
Beach at the Ocean Seashore in Brittany 1877
" The Barbizon School, through the importance given to the landscape, which became a majestic subject from a decoration, capable of testing refined qualities of craftsmanship and plastic vision, meant for the Romanian painter the legitimization of his inclination to surprise and at the same time immerse himself in the miracle of the surrounding reality ." ( Literature and Painting, author ***, Albatros Publishing House, 1983, Bucharest, p.79 )
Forest interior at Barbizon 1900
Andreescu at Barbizon (1879-1880)
After returning to his country, he manages, in his work, to perfectly combine the technical qualities he acquired, with a plastic vision specific to folklore, inclined towards the contemplation of balance, but also of the infinity of space, towards the gentle harmonies of colors and enchantment. Thus, the country landscape and in general the peasant theme acquire an important, even primordial place. The Romanian village will find in Impressionism the most comprehensive and realistic image. Grigorescu also gave a great place to the human figure, the portrait, the historical composition, making of them the most authentic documents of the 19th century.
He revealed, in an optimistic vision, the physical and moral beauty of the Romanian peasant, integrated into his living environment ( Mountain Peasant, Cheerful Peasant, Young Peasant, Shepherd ). Alexandru Vlahuţă called him: “ rhapsode of our land .”
The peasant woman from Muscel
Peasant woman with a headscarf
The variety of types in Grigorescu 's painting is completed by works such as Mocanul , in which the massive, monumental character, with a thoughtful and stubborn face, is one of the most authentic renderings of the mountain peasant, or as the caricatured portrait of the so-called Vechil . Grigorescu reflected, at a level unattained in Romanian painting until him, the life of simple people. In the paintings representing the miserable houses on the outskirts of villages ( Coliba, Bordei, Târlă părsită, Ţăran pe prispă ), he rendered with a clearly critical nuance the image of the life of poor peasants. Throughout his entire activity he cultivated portraiture with particular mastery, in painting and drawing, demonstrating an exceptional talent in transposing the individual and social psychology of his models (e.g. Portrait of the great ban Năsturel Herescu ; the series of portraits of Jews, delicate portraits of women or the portrait-composition Amatorul de tablouri ).
The Great Watercress
Portrait of a lady
His work closely linked art to the people and had a decisive role in the formation of the great painter Ion Andreescu , a strong stimulating influence on the leading artists of that time and the following generations, as well as on the formation of interest in art among the general public.
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