A briliant landscape artist and portraist and one of the best of the Post-Impressionist Romanian artists, Lucian Grigorescu was born on February 1st 1894 in Medgidia and in 1912 enrolled at the Fine Arts Academy in Bucharest, where he had the opportunity of studying under Mirea and Gabriel Popescu. These two will help him eborate his own style, find his favourite themes and discover the history of European arts. After WW I he continued his studies until 1920 and in 1921 he left for Rome, then moved to Paris, working in important studious of his time and attending art classes.
The "French" chapter would later prove to have a decissive role in his artistic and intelectual formation, as it helped him to finally have his own, mature style. Marked by Impressionism and later by Post-Impressionism, Lucian Grigorescu seized the opportunity and travelled south of France, where in 1927 - 1939 worked in open air, capturing on canvas and paper the vibrant colours and magic of nature. This type of landscapes will forever be one of his favourites, and even after his return to Romania he kept on reliving those days and painting them over and over again.
Back in the country, Grigorescu exhibited at several officials shows and salons, at exhibition put together by prestigious cultural foundations such as Tinerimea Artistica or Arta, everytime with great success, even if commisions were few. Yet, art critics were particularly impressed by the strength of his style, the manner in which he transposed on canvas the landscapes and still lifes, the way he understood to translate the Post-Impressionist principles into his own style. He was a young and successful artist, a nature painter, who would only much later turn to portraits.
It was in the last part of his career that Lucian Grigorescu began paying much more interest to the human figure, and started painting several series of portraits, with a keen eye, a sure hand and the experience of an artist who took the time in thinking and creating his own view of the world.
Lucian Grigorescu was no minor artist in the history of Romanian painting. His works are surprisingly interesting and fresh today, especially his portraits, although many of them are marked by a perceptible sadness. A painter who must be discovered and enjoyed by all.
2008-08-12
