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The centuries you cannot miss

"Shadows and Lights", exhibition at the National Museum of Art

Posted in Arts and culture on Thursday, August 18, 2005

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Remember that you only have until the 2nd of October to go to the National Museum of Art at the Royal Palace. You can, of course, go after that date, but then you would have missed "Shadows and Lights-Four Centuries of French Painting", a cultural event that's hard to come along these days.

The exhibit is the product of a French-Romanian joint effort to put together significant works of 4 centuries of French painting (the 17th through the 20th). The selection is excellent to serve the exhibition title (which denotes a good job on the French), but the way the paintings decorate the walls is of an amateur nature and lacking in imagination (which denotes a bit-of-more-work-needed on the Romanian counterparts). You will see very famous signatures ranging from Poussin to Picasso, from De La Tour to Braque, including VIP's such as Ingres, Delacroix, Cezanne and Matisse; you must admit that these are names that are almost never seen in our museums. Each painter has two or three works on display.

The exhibition does accomplish its mission. In the spirit of "paining being the adventure of light and its sister, the shadow", the exhibit goes from "light-the subject" to "light-the object", while we see "mystic", "natural" and "mythological" light play with and transform not only gestures, faces and landscapes, but the entire world.

My favorites were Vernet's „Storm at night" , Gustave Moreau's "Shepherds Watching Soldiers" (featuring a light that dilutes all contours and enhances a softened impression of ghost-like figures), and „Montaigne meets Tasso" by Florry Francois Richard (the famous visit by the great French philosopher to Torquato Tasso, while the latter was checked in a psychiatric hospice; this painting suggests the eternal conflict between the logical and the emotional, and possibly a synthesis of the intellectual history of human beings). Last but not least, and admittedly showing subjectivity on my part, two great works on display are the two Cezanne, „The temptation of St. Anthony" and „Farm Courtyard in Auvers". On the section reserved for the 20th Century, Matisse delivers a special latent emotion through the famous "Nice interior: siesta".

Which brings us to Picasso, the superstar that rules museums and auctions, and Van Gogh's only rival, the name that even the tabloid readers have heard at least one time: he also has three works on exhibit. Not major ones, mind you, but Picasso, nevertheless. The paintings come from three distinct periods, one reminding us of „Guernica", and another reminiscent of his cubism phase. It is evident how the three paintings reveal Picasso's use of light in his vision of (re)constructing the world. At the other end of the spectrum, the impressionism lovers can also take pleasure in Monet or Degas. As you would imagine, almost everyone can find an interest on a span of 400 years of art.

The explanations found in the different rooms are comprehensive and detailed, thus offering enough documentation and not scaring away those of us who don't frequent world class museums. Once again: do not miss it!

The museum is open every day from 11am until 7pm, except Mondays and Tuesdays, and do keep in mind that the entire visit could last close to two hours. Tickets are 15 Lei Noi, (7 Lei Noi for students and senior citizens). I would recommend buying the otherwise expensive collection album for great quality photos and foot notes.

A great afternoon could start with the visit at the museum, followed by dinner across the street at „Bistro Athenee", and ending with a drink at Galleron. If you're courting a beautiful woman, this is a winning recipe, assuming the beauty on your arm vibrates while listening to artsy talk. Since that sort of beauty is harder and harder to find nowadays, one may just as well enjoy this itinerary by his lonely self. Thoughts and revelations tend to be deeper like this, anyway.


National Museum of Art
Calea Victoriei 49 - 53
Tel. 021.314.81.19, 021.313.30.30



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