Infiintat in: 1948; Orasul: BUCURESTI; Profil general: Arta

Adresa: Calea Victoriei numarul 49 – 53, sector 1

Program: 11:00 – 19:00 (vara); 10:00 – 18:00 (iarna); luni, marti: inchis

The National Museum of Art of Romania has three art galleries and a royal history. The European Art Gallery, Romanian Old Art Gallery, Romanian Modern Art Gallery sum up works displayed in an attractive modern manner, and any visit is a pleasant, interesting way to spend time.

The history borne by the building makes the visit a travel in time, as on the place where the Kretzulescu wings stands today, the boyar Dinicu Golescu raised, between 1812 and 1820, a house of impressive size for the contemporaries. During the time of Alexandru Ioan Cuza the building turned into a princely lodging, and during the time of Charles I, a winter palace. The king adorned it after his taste and was also involved with developing a painting collection, today the core of the European Art Gallery. The palace underwent a stage of modifications during the time of Ferdinand and Charles II, and it changed in 1948, when it was decided to open here a museum of art and the reception halls of the central body were assigned to the State Council. During the events of December 1989, eighty per cent of the building was damaged, and over 1,000 works of art were deteriorated or destroyed. In 1990 the building in Revolution Square turned into the National Museum of Art of Romania.

The European Art Gallery, sheltered in the Kretzulescu wing, reflects, due to the distribution of the 300 works, the main art schools of Europe between the 14th and 19th centuries. From the late Gothic and the Renaissance, continuing with Mannerism and Caravagism, up to the Baroque and Rococo patterns, Italian painting is represented by works of the masters Domenico Veneziano, Jacopo Bassano, Bronzino, Jacopo Tintoretto, Luca Giordano, Orazio Gentileschi, Jacopo Amigoni. The German art collection illustrates the German version of the international Gothic or the north Renaissance pattern due to remarkable works by Bartholomaus Zeitblom, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans von Aachen. Religious fervour and burning temperament characterize the Spanish paintings by El Greco, Francisco Zurbaran, Alonso Cano, Antonio Pereda. Realism, the mystery of the light and shade or the epic picturesque of the scenes can be found in the works of Flemish artists (Bartholomaus Spranger, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Pieter Paul Rubens, David Ryckaert III) and Dutch artists (Rembrandt Harmensz, Van Rijn, Jan Davidsz, De Heem). The French art halls are spanned by works from the 16th – 19th centuries. Important artists include: J.B. Oudry, Nicolas de Largillière, Gaspar Dughet, Joseph Parrocel, next to Claude Monet, Paul Signac, Alfred Sisley. The sculpture collection includes remarkable creations by Auguste Rodin, Antoine Bourdelle, Jules Dalou and Camille Claudel.

The Romanian Old Art Gallery includes 900 pieces offering a unitary image upon the cultural life in the historical provinces: Valahia, Moldova and Transilvania from the 14th – 18th centuries. Remarkable are the fresco fragments (those from Curtea de Arges [Arges Court] – 1526) and the icons (Wailing the Lord) – the 15th 16th centuries, Saints Simeon and Sava – 1522 – 1523, both from the monastery of Curtea de Arges, the Virgin with Child surrounded by prophets – the second half of the 16th century, Pangarati monastery), embroideries (Epitaphs of Cozia Monastery – 1395 -1396 and of Neamt Monastery – 1437, the Air of “St. Nicholas of Radauti” Church – about 1493, the Stoles of Tismana Monastery – early 16th century), manuscripts (the Four Gospels, achieved in a Byzantine workshop, whose text dates from the 12th century, the Four Gospels of Gavril Uric – 1436 – 1437, the Four Gospels of monk Dimitrie Gramaticul – 1512), gold and silver items (the censer from Tismana – 1508-1512, the shrine from Hurezi – 1691 -1692, the precious metal vessel with artistic incrustations from Precista Monastery in Bacau – 1491 – 1496, the procession cross from Slatina Monastery – 1558), wooden and stone sculptures (the imperial doors from the church in Carligul (Bacau) – early 16th century, the rib with the coats of arms of Moldavia from “Three Hierachs” in Jassy, 1637 – 1638). The gallery includes a Treasure to which three halls are dedicated, where one can see secular and religious items out of precious metals and stones, jewels and costume accessories from the 14th – 19th centuries.

The Romanian Modern Art Gallery reconstructs due to the 700 paintings and sculptures the path of Romanian art from early 19th century – illustrated by the departure from the religious art of Byzantine inspiration – to the age of the great classics of Romanian art. The two centuries of art, revealed by numerous artistic trends and tendencies, are represented both by famous names, relevant for the entire Romanian culture, and by less known outstanding artists included for the first time in the permanent exhibition of the National Gallery. The tradition of portraits and the formalism of the “painters of thin” are illustrated in the Gallery by the works of Anton Chladek, Giovanni Schiavoni, Iosef August Schoefft, while Theodor Aman’ and Gheorghe Tattarescu’s paintings show how these two artists gave Romanian painting a new interpretation of academicism and neoclassicism. Outstanding personalities of national art like Nicolae Grigorescu, Ioan Andreescu, Stefan Luchian, Nicolae Tonitza, Theodor Pallady, Gheorghe Petrascu, Constantin Brancusi, Dimitrie Paciurea, Corneliu Baba, Alexandru Ciucurencu, Ion Tuculescu, many other artists complete the general configuration of the represented period, including: Iosif Iser, Camil Ressu, Francisc Sirato, Stefan Dumitrescu, Ion Jalea, Jean Al. Steriadi, Nicolae Darascu, Samuel Mutzner, Petre Iorgulescu Yor, Dimitrie Gheata, Rudolf Schweitzer-Cumpana, Lucian Grigorescu, etc. The constant tendency of Romanian culture to intertwine with European trends is revealed in the Romanian modern art exhibition by the vanguard works of Victor Brauner, Marcel Iancu, Hans Mattis-Teutsch, M. H. Maxy, Arthur Segal.

One of the halls of the gallery is dedicated exclusively to the sculptor Constantin Brancusi and gathers youth and maturity works, such as: Ordeal, Child’s Head, Sleep, Prometheus, Prayer, Danaid, Silence of the Earth.