Nicolae Grigorescu

Romanian Painter (1838 – 1907)

Music: George Enescu – Romanian Rapsody

PPS by Florin Popescu

Self-portrait

Nicolae Grigorescu (May 15, 1838—July 21, 1907) was one of the founders of modern Romania painting. He was born in Pitaru village , Romania. In 1843 the family moved to Bucarest. At a young age (between 1848 and 1850), he became an apprentice at the workshop of the painter and created icons for the church and the monastery .. Between 1856 and 1857, he painted the church of the Zamfira monastery, Prahova county, and in 1861 the church of the Agapia monastery. He received a scholarship to study in France. In the autumn of 1861, young Grigorescu left for Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. He also attended the workshop of , where he had as a colleague Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Knowing his weaknesses, he concentrated drawing and composition. However, he soon left this workshop and, attracted by the artistic concepts of the Barbizon school, he left Paris for that village, where he became the associate of artists such as Jean-François Millet, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Théodore Rousseau. Under the influence of the movement, Grigorescu looked for new means of expression and followed the trend of en plein air painting, which was also important in Impressionism. As part of the Universal Exposition of Paris (1867), he contributed seven works. Then he exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1868 the painting Tânără ţigancă (Gypsy girl).He returned to Romania a few times and starting in 1870 he participated in the exhibits of living artists and those organized by the Society of the Friends of the Belle-Arts. Between 1873 and 1874 he traveled to Italy, Greece and Vienna. In 1877 he was called to accompany the Romanian Army as a "frontline painter" in the Romanian War of Independence. In 1889 his work was featured in the Universal Exhibition in Paris and at the Romanian Atheneum. From 1879 to 1890 he worked in France, especially in Vitré, Bretagne, and in his workshop in Paris. In 1890 he settled in Câmpina and started depicting pastoral themes, especially portraits of peasant girls, pictures of ox carts on dusty country roads and other landscapes. He was named honorary member of the Romanian Academy in 1899.

Small Mug With Flowers

Artillerists In March

Foot Soldier Bugler

Fancy-dressed Man

Watchman From Chailly

Cabin In The Forest

Waggon Car With Oxen

Waggon Car With Four Oxen

Shepherd Boy

Girl With Handkerchief

At Gate

Little Girl With Handkerchief

Countrywoman(Head)

Fischerwoman At Grandville

Roadside Inn

Roadside Inn

Jew With Goose

Twilight

Return From Fishing

Girl With Distaff

Old Woman Darning

Marguerites

Stillife With Woodcocks

On The Bank Of Siret River

On The Top Of The Mountain

Forest Landscape

Girl At The Creek

Gipsy Woman

Naked Woman

Washerwomen In Bretagne

Countrywoman With Very Thin Raw Silk

Headkerchief

Montane Countrywoman

Countrywoman From Muscel

County

Cheerful Countrywoman