The Gheorghe Petrascu Museum in Targoviste is both a memorial house and an art studio, having been officially opened in April 1970, to remember or inform visitors about the close ties between the artist and the city. Gheorghe Petrascu moved here in 1922, building a house here, as he needed a place to live and work that was both quiet and inspirations. And Targoviste, mainly due to the charm of the old ruins, seemed the perfect place to be. Here Petrascu managed to create some of his most important works, briliant compositions that proved he was a special and original voice in Romanian art. The museum has an interesting exhibition of personal objects, photographs, letters, as well as tools used by the artist, building a whole image of the way he lived and work and making this house/studio an interesting place.
Gheorghe Petrascu (1872 - 1949) is considered one of the best Romanian artists, due to his original style and manner, which combined national and foreign ideas and influences. The artist first came to Targoviste in 1920, and was so impressed by the place that he decided to build here a house, where he could retreat and dedicate himself to his works. His former studio, in Nicoresti, was sadly destroyed during World War I, so the painter needed a new house. The house/studio was finished in 1922, and Petrascu would live here until 1942, and made some of his best creations inside this very walls. Often he was inspired by Targoviste's old part, mainly the impressive Curtea Domneasca and the old houses, as well as the landscapes near the city, places filled with flowers and the strenght of nature. Inside this simple house the painter reserved the larger room on floor level for his studio, and the fact that his wife and children also lived here gave him the idea of creating several compositions which glorified family life and play.
The memorial house officially became a museum in April 1970, and at first it only had 51 exhibits, paintings and drawings or sketches, which presented to the visitors, step by step, the main stages, influences, themes and interests in Gheorghe Petrascu's life. The themes of the works on display are varied, from portraits and fmaily scenes to landscapes, interior scenes, floral compositions.
2008-02-15
www.artline.ro
