Tag: painting

  • Talented children and their painting exhibitions

    Talented children and their painting exhibitions

    She may be 12 years old, but she does not play at painting! Nay, in early February, at the International Conference
    Centre’s Constantin Brancusi Exhibition Hall, on the premises at the Parliament
    Palace, Giulia Pintea opened her first sole exhibition in Romania, themed A
    Symphony in Colours. Giulia Pintea is a Romanian-born painter, a French
    Riviera resident, of Canadian and Italian nationality. Giulia came to the
    attention of the artistic milieu of the country that has given the world some of
    the greatest painters in the history of fine arts. Giulia
    Pintea has had sole exhibitions before, all across the French Riviera, but also
    in England, Germany and Spain. Giulia was the pupil of the famous French contemporary
    painter José Curti, known for his abstract, semi-figurative works which pay tribute
    to the imaginary by mixing colours that are always surprising. Actually, the
    famous painter attended the inauguration of the little artist’s sole exhibition.


    Giulia Pintea’s exhibition themed A Symphony
    in Colours allows visitors to have access to a mystery: that of the synchronization
    of two worlds in a mirror, the world of the imaginary and the real world. Giulia’s paintings have already been purchased by private collectors in France,
    England, Ireland, the USA, France and New Zealand.


    Giulia is fluent in four languages: Romanian, Italian, French
    and English. She was kind enough to spin the yarn of her early days as a fine
    artist, and her exhibition in Romania.

    Giulia Pintea:

    Ever since I was little, I have always liked to
    create, to paint. I inherited that trend from father and destiny favoured my
    encounter with painter José Curti, who inspired me in the abstract with acrylic
    style. It is A Symphony in
    Colours the painting of the exhibition, it is The Encounter of the Angels, which
    is the first painting I created, it is The Guitarist, my favourite painting,
    then there is Le Voyage vers le Lumière Journey
    to the Light, very many people adored. My professor was very proud of me and said it was very beautiful. I paint
    because I love to paint and that makes me happy and I want to convey this joy through
    colours. I paint for about 2, 3 hours a day. It takes me 2 to 5 hours to paint
    a large painting and roughly two hours for a small one.


    Giulia met 73-year-old artist Jose Curti when she was 6, in May,
    2016. Together with her mother, she followed in Picasso’s footsteps and stopped
    in front of the canvas artist Jose Curti was painting in the Artists’ Square in
    the Antibes and, amazed with what he was doing, she approached him. A kind of synergy
    occurred between them and ever since José Curti has become her mentor. Shortly afterwards,
    motivated by the mentor, when she was only 6, Giulia had her first exhibition jointly
    with her mentor. And, when she was 8, Giulia opened the gates of her first sole exhibition
    in France, in February 2019. Then she had another exhibition in England, in
    October, 2019, and another one in Germany, in December, 2019. The impetus of her
    success was somehow stifled during the pandemic, when she only
    exhibited her works in Spain, in May 2021, and also as part of the Roman Camp
    staged by the MAI Academy.


    We asked Giulia if she wanted to be like some well-known
    artist. We also asked her if, apart from painting, there was anything else she
    would like to do.


    I just want to be like Gulia
    Pintea. I also do swimming, ballet, acting, acrobatic circus, basketball, canto
    equitation, aikido, piano. Ever since I was little, I got used to doing that, and
    ever since I was little, I have been doing lots of activities. My colleagues have
    been very nice with me, I made friends very easily, and they support me in my
    passion.


    Giulia’s mother, Alexandra
    Pintea, told us why her daughter chose Romania for her exhibition.


    Because her origins are Romanian and I don’t know
    that by hearsay but Giulia, ever since she was little, she spent her holidays
    in Romania and in camps staged in Romania and she wanted so much to share with
    the Romanians the joy she conveys through her paintings. I am grateful to all those who came to Giulia’s inauguration. There was a great number of people there, from all over the
    place, from all over the country. They came from Satu Mare, her grandmother with
    my brother, with everyone else, our cousins. It was impressive, their
    mobilization, former colleagues at the university here, in Bucharest and in Craiova.
    They also came from abroad, her father with Giulia’s godmother, from Italy,
    cousins from Germany came over, they came from France, her mentor, Jose Curti,
    came, he was here at the opening with a group of six artists who adore her and who have
    always supported Giulia and all the fine people were there, among whom I should
    like to mention the Miniton group, who literally opened the event and to whom we
    are very grateful, there also was presenter Roxana
    Ioana Gavăr Iliescu.


    Giulia Pintea donates part of her works to humanitarian causes, for
    the support of the underprivileged children. The artist is also passionate about
    acting, ballet, piano, the art of circus and canto, areas where she scooped awards. Giulia’s name only adds up to a great number of names of children with
    Romanian origins, whose genius, at a very tender age, has enjoyed worldwide recognition.(EN)





  • Events on the International Children’s Day

    Events on the International Children’s Day


    The
    International Children’s Day is celebrated on the first day of the summer
    season, in Romania, but also in many other countries around the world. It is a
    perfect opportunity to celebrate childhood, one of the most precious periods of
    time in everybody’s life. According to the French-speaking, Romanian-born playwright
    Eugene Ionesco, childhood is a world of miracles and wonder, of the creation
    bathed in light, emerging out of the darkness, indescribably new and fresh, and
    amazing. On June the 1st, all over the country, events dedicated to the International
    Children’s Day were staged. The little ones were invited to take part in contests,
    workshops, open-air performances and parties. Children enjoyed their celebration
    time at the Radio Concert Hall as well; Radio Romania’s Children Choir gave a
    concert, but before that, a comics workshop was held, which captivated the
    participants. Children in schools across Bucharest were challenged to take part in the
    creation of comics, starting off from the ideas suggested by the
    coordinator of the Radio Tiddlekins collection, Alexandru Ciubotariu. In the graphic artists’ community, the
    collection is known as Ciubi or the Square-shaped Cat. Also, the Parliament Palace opened its gates to children. They were welcomed by the speakers of the
    Two Parliament Chambers, entered politicians’ offices, the meeting rooms and
    were given details on the activity of Romania’s lawmakers.

    The Romanian Senate
    took the opportunity to launch the Senat junior.ro online platform,
    where information is made accessible to children as to how the Parliament works and what the laws are. The
    Senate Garden was especially decorated for the little ones. They had balloons,
    cakes and gifts, but they also visited the stands created by the numerous
    embassies and institutions. As they visited the Government building, Romanian
    children as well as the refugee Ukrainian children took part in a drawing and painting
    contest, whose theme was peace, friendship and love. At the end of the contest,
    children were awarded symbolical prizes by the organizers, they were given
    books and candies. Also in Bucharest, the BookFest International Book Salon
    took off on the very day of June the 1st. On the International Children’s
    Day, the Salon staged numerous events dedicated to the little ones, also
    celebrating the French-speaking literature through books and comics, all that
    staged against the backdrop of the Council of the European Union’s French Presidency.
    Elsewhere around the country, in Oradea, in the north-west, the State
    Philharmonics Orchestra gave a special concert, including cartoon movie
    soundtracks. In Arad, also in the north-west, the International Children’s Day was
    celebrated in several districts through interactive games, entertainment music
    recitals, modern dance and aerobic gymnastics, but also through educational activities.
    The south-eastern Romanian city of Constanta marked the International Children’s
    Day through puppet theater stage shows, magic and face painting. In Focsani, in
    the east, more than 2,000 children and athletes took part in a flash-mob, in a bid
    to set a new world record.

    (EN)



  • Behind the scenes at Romania’s National Museum of History

    Behind the scenes at Romania’s National Museum of History


    Fragment. The Experience of restoration.
    It is the title of an exhibition hosted by Romania’s National Museum of History,
    located in the Old City Centre. The exhibition is on until mid-June. Visitors
    can have the chance to know the museum’s restoration laboratories, whether we speak
    about painting, metal or wood, or whether it’s about ceramic, paper or textile
    materials/fabric. It is an incursion in history but also a behind-the-scenes glimpse
    of the exhibits, there where the items are stored, maintained and restored by
    dedicated and passionate people. We were lucky enough to speak to restorer Sorina
    Gheorghiță, a collaborator of Romania’s National Museum of History’s painting restoration
    laboratory. Here she is, giving us details on the work behind the exhibited
    paintings but mainly about a restorer’s work as such:

    Sorina Gheorghita:


    Since
    2013, when the easel painting restoration lab was accredited as part of Romania’s
    National Museum of History, around 25 paintings have been restored. Many of the
    paintings are authored by renowned Romanian painters such as Luchian, Tonitza,
    Ressu, Stoica, Teodorescu-Sion. The Paintings depict major historical events,
    war scenes, mainly, focusing on the War of Independence or World War One. A major
    work which has been restored is a painting by Aman, titled The Proclamation of the
    Union, it is the Union of the Principalities, the depicted scene is a very familiar
    one, it is a scene that usually goes with the event.


    But what are the restoration stages for
    a painting? How does the whole process unfold?

    Sorina Gheorghita:


    Speaking about the
    steps to be taken for the restoration of a painting, the very moment the
    decision has been taken for that particular painting to be restored, it had
    been examined already by the preservation person responsible for the painting warehouse,
    jointly with the restorer, in some cases, and a common decision has been taken,
    to that end. The very moment the
    painting is taken to the restoration lab, the painting undergoes a research process for which using various means and operations are being used, direct light, lateral light, ultra-violet light, we sometimes
    have no choice other than using infrared light or X-rays.
    We resort to analyses, the laboratory of Romanian National Museum of History’s
    is extremely well-provided, giving us a hand whenever needed…Then, as soon as
    all those investigations have been made and the structure of the painting layer
    has been accurately detected, the level of degradation and the cause of the degradation
    are also specified. Then the proceedings are set, for a detailed research proposal,
    whereby all the required operations are presented for the painting to be
    restored, that particular research and the ensuing intervention proposals are
    presented before a sitting restoration panel which gives its go-ahead for the operation.
    The restoration process comes to a close, that’s for sure, while the
    freshly-restored work is again presented before a panel, whose job is to check
    if all the steps had been taken, that were put forward for the restoration work,
    also checking the respective work’s post-restoration condition, then the work
    returns to the storage room or is being displayed as part of an exhibition, like
    the one we’re having right now. The most rewarding surprises emerge, in fact, while
    we’re doing the cleaning, which is a spectacular operation, whether we remove
    the varnish alone and the surface layers. A great many details resurface, which had not been visible before, or the colors, which turn out to be a lot livelier.
    Also, if, in time, the painting was covered in certain re-painting layers, we
    can have the surprise of coming across some details that had become absolutely
    invisible, otherwise, or even signatures.


    As part of the « Fragment »
    exhibition, an important section is spectacularly represented, the metal
    restoration laboratory. Moreover, as an absolute first for the lay public,
    bronze and iron items are shown, in an exquisite display, items that are part
    of the archaeological site that was discovered in 2012 in Tartaria, lying in the
    central Romanian county of Alba.

    Archaeologist Corina Bors:


    The archaeological site in
    Tartaria, the Western Tartaria Bridge was unearthed in the spring of 2012. The
    discovery occurred as part of a series of large-scale or pre-emptive archaeological
    research, carried on the occasion of the construction of a highway along the
    Mures River valley. The two deposits, with bronze and iron objects, were
    discovered in an extremely special archaeological context, namely the western boundary
    ditch of the Hallstattian habitat, the objects were stored in two pots made of
    clay, with archaeologists taking samples of all that. The first deposit, labeled Tartaria 1, has, judging
    by what we have been able to find so far, and you will see why, more than 400
    items made of bronze and iron, dating, broadly speaking, from the 19th
    and the 18th centuries BC. The second one counts 50 objects, also dated
    for the same timeframe.


    But which of the items that have been discovered
    are the most precious, archeologically and historically?

    Corina Bors:


    The items of
    exception that were found in all those prehistorical votive deposits, among
    them, there is a chest lace piece, a lavish harness kit made of a tongue bit with
    a mouthpiece, but also several phalera, the golds medals offered to the Romanian
    soldiers as a prize and worn around the neck, as well as other everyday items,
    made of bronze. In the Fragment exhibition which is still open at the Romania’s
    National Museum of History, you can admire, separately, the seven-part necklace,
    but also, in a one-of-a kind display, the harness kit placed on a real-scale
    horse bust, as well as a series of adornment objects, day-to-day objects,
    belonging to a male set, also displayed on a man’s bust. And, last but not the
    least, a necklace made of bronze beads is also displayed, again, a piece which
    is extremely rare for the so-called middle Hallstatt age from the area of the Danube
    River basin. The discovery was made by archeologists and all the fragments kept
    in those deposits could be sampled, with utmost care, so organic materials were
    also sampled, which made it possible for the findings to be accurately dated.






  • The Zambaccian museum in Bucharest

    The Zambaccian museum in Bucharest



    One of Bucharests interesting museums lies in the northern part of the city, which is actually a residential area where the development of property and the increasingly urbanized character saw their heyday in the inter-war period. The Krikor H. Zambaccian museum is venued by purpose-built premises, capable of hosting a fine art collection. The museum is the brainchild of a merchant with a special personality. He was an art aficionado, also willing to give artists a hand. Born in 1889 in Constanta, in the south-east, Krikor Zambaccian hailed from an Armenian family. He continued the merchant tradition of the family, first in his native city then in Bucharest, where he relocated in 1923. However, fins arts remined his passion throughout. Museographer with the Art Collections Museum, Ilinca Damian, provided the details.



    Ilinca Damian:



    “The family moved to Bucharest, also developing their trade in Romanias capital city. All his life Zambaccian was in the fabric printing business and in the textile material trade, in a broader sense. Apart from that, his great passion was collecting fine art objects, in principal Romanian paintings and in the subsidiary, French paintings. Zambaccian discovered his passion for art when he was a student in Paris. In between accounting and economics courses he found the time to visit art galleries and museums, also taking part in conferences and debates. That is how Zambaccian became a self-made man in the field of fine arts. He succeeded to befriend some of the French artists, such as Henri Matisse. When he returned to Romania, he also befriended the Romanian artists of his generation. Gradually, Krikor Zambaccian began to structure his collection.”



    That occurred properly after he relocated to Bucharest, in 1923. We recall that the items he had purchased before that year, in his first attempt to start a collection, got lost during World War One. The first fine art works he purchased as a collector were authored by the artists he had already befriended.



    Ilinca Damian:



    “All his life he maintained a close friendship with painter Gh. Petrascu. Every so often he would buy works created by the maestro, whom he visited on Sundays, he also had a close friendship with Th. Pallady, who visited Zambaccian in his study. Also, he was a friend of Nicolae Tonitza, temporarily, he was also a friend of Francisc Sirato. Actually, he was a friend of almost all the artists of the time, supporting them all his life to the best of his abilities. So, apart from his fine art collector activity, he also was a Maecenas of fine artists..Just like any other art collector of the time, Zambaccian knew how to add to his collection works by the so-called “forefathers of Romanian modern art”, the likes of Nicolae Grigorescu, Ion Andreescu, Ștefan Luchian, as well as Theodor Aman. The selection of Luchians paintings he purchased was acclaimed from the very beginning. Zambaccian himself did not mince his words saying he dedicated Stefan Luchian an altar, in his collection. Also, he was generous enough to pay good money for the paintings he purchased directly from the artists themselves of from other collectors. He believed a work of quality deserved being purchased for a good price, so he would always offer more money rather than start a negotiation.



    In time, Zambaccians collection was growing, so he needed proper premises for the storage and display of the paintings. In the early 1940s, Krikor Zambaccian had a house built, which had been thought out as a museum but also as lodgings. It is the building of the Zambaccian museum we can still see today.



    Ilinca Damian:



    “In 1942, works for the building had already been completed, and visiting was allowed once a week. Zambaccian had though it out it out as a museum, but he obviously lived there until the year of his death, 1962. The house was designed in the modernist style. Actually, it was a medley of styles, from the neo-Romanian to the minimalist one, also having Moorish influences. So we can say the house had rather an eclectic style, but the main trend was the modernist one quite all right. The idea of opening a museum occurred to Zambaccian as early as 1932-1933. Even before he had the house built he initiated talks with the municipality of Bucharest, but they failed to reach an agreement as to the premises where the works of art would be exhibited. The initial plan was to donate the art collection stored in the house he lived in at that time, which was obviously inappropriate for exhibiting and visiting purposes. Negotiations with the municipality had no positive outcome, yet Zambaccian was adamant in fulfilling his wish, that of creating an open-to-everybody museum. So the 1940s he had his own house built, which clearly had that purpose, and in 1947 he succeeded to donate his Romanian art collection to the state. The donation proper was completed in three stages, in 1947, 1957 and 1962, the year of his death. As we speak, the collection includes 300 works of Romanian and European painting and sculpture.”



    During the communist regime, the collection was unfortunately taken to other premises, it was a museum of several art collections, while Zambaccians house was used for purposes that were different from what the collectors initial intended. In the early 2000, in the wake of a large-scale restoration process, the collection was returned to its original building. Today, the Zambaccian residence but also the collection are open to visitors, just as their creator and initial owner wanted.


    (Translation by Eugen Nasta)




  • Cultural Bucharest

    Cultural Bucharest

    The Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest used to be a royal
    residence. Today it is the main building of the Presidential Administration.
    Right opposite to it, in the posh Cotroceni area, we can find two memorial
    houses dedicated to two of Romania’s interwar writers. They were so different
    from one another in terms of writing, yet they were so close in mundane life:
    they were actually close friends. They are prose writer Liviu Rebreanu and poet
    Ion Minulescu. In the former case, the museum-apartment bears the name of Liviu
    Rebreanu and his wife, Fanny Rebreanu, with the apartment being the only one
    such site in Bucharest where then the family’s domestic atmosphere has been
    recomposed; so was the writer’s study with his bookcase and the writer’s
    personal items. Liviu Rebreanu was a member of the Romanian Academy and a
    dignitary holding quite a few official positions. A textbook prose writer,
    Liviu Rebreanu was born in Transylvania, at a time when Transylvania was still
    part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Among other things, Liviu Rebreanu is
    remembered as the author who captured the psychology of his characters in an
    utterly realistic manner. Rebreanu was born in 1885 and died in 1944, shortly
    before the communist regime was instated in Romania. In 1934, he bought the
    apartment in Cotroceni for his adoptive daughter, Puia-Florica Rebreanu. Liviu
    Rebreanu never lived there, yet the house has emphatically preserved the daily
    life of the family’s intimacy. Here is museographer Adrian David, with details
    on that.


    The residence has quite aptly earned
    the status of Liviu Rebreanu Memorial House because, after the writer died in
    Valea Mare, near Pitesti, his wife move to this apartment with her daughter and
    son-in-law, and here they transferred whatever it was that they could retrieve from the writer’s former real estate property. The apartment, today known as the
    Rebreanu Memorial House was donated to
    the Museum of Romanian Literature in 1992 by the writer’s adoptive daughter,
    Puia Rebreanu. When the former owner dies in 1995 and following a time when the
    residence was refurbished, the apartment entered the museum circuit, in effect
    belonging to the Romanian state, together


    So those who, at present, may want to get the chance
    to know Rebreanu in the intimacy of his family, can travel to the Cotroceni
    area and visit the little block of flats where the museum-apartment can be
    found.

    Museographer Adrian David:


    Rebreanu’s desk, where he sat down and
    wrote his entire work…Those who come visit may notice, for instance, near the desk,
    the oriental table for the writer’s coffee serving set, these two items were
    always there since he was a coffee addict and a night-time writer. We’ve got
    Rebreanu’s lamp, owl-shaped and which Rebreanu had on the desk all the time. We
    have a clock Rebreanu brought for himself from his native Transylvania which
    back then was under Austrian-Hungarian occupation, It was an imperial clock, which
    took him back to the native region he had no choice other than leaving and
    relocating to the Old Kingdom. But over and above anything else,
    attention-grabbing for those who step into the memorial house is the lavish
    display of fine art. There are a great many works, most of them authored by
    some of Rebreanu’s friends, some of them were even made in Liviu Rebreanu’s
    house. For instance, in the lobby there are three portraits drawn by Iosif
    Iser. There were there after the 1913 Christmas, held in the Rebreanus’ house,
    where among the guests were painters Camil Ressu, Iosif Iser, alongside other
    very good friends. During that Christmas evening the fir-tree was on fire because
    of the candles, and, according to Puia Rebreanu’s own account, all the presents
    they received for Christmas were burned. But, she said, thank God Iosif Iser’s
    drawings remained intact, bringing back the memories of that day. Also, there
    are many icons, all of them from Transylvania. Rebreanu was very religious and
    very superstitious.


    In stark contrast with Liviu Rebreanu, another author
    lived in the adjoining apartment. He was symbolist poet Ion Minulescu, who was
    born in 1881 and who died also in 1944. His verse was extremely popular among
    the sentimental youth of that time. Even the design of that home, which was a
    lot more spacious, was different, as the imprint was that of a much more
    bohemian atmosphere as against the restraint of the Rebreanu residence.

    Adrian
    David:


    The block of flats where both memorial houses can be found, that of Ion
    Minulescu and that of Liviu Rebreanu, was brought into service in 1934. Back in
    the day it was known as the Professors’ Block of flats and was purpose-built
    for the teaching staff. Ion Minulescu’s wife, poet Claudia Millian, was a
    high-school teacher and a principal. Liviu Rebreanu got hold of the apartment
    with the help of Ion Minulescu, who facilitated Rebreanu a loan from the
    Teaching Staff Center. In the meantime, the two writers’ wives and daughters
    became friends. Actually, in the Ion Minulescu Claudia Millian Memorial
    House, all family members are represented in equal proportion, since, apart
    from Ion Minulescu, with whom we are very familiar, his wife and daughter were
    also artists and writers. Claudia graduated form the Conservatory of Dramatic
    Art, while Mioara Minulescu, their daughter, initially read Letters and the
    French language. Actually, Claudia Millian also studied with the Fine Arts
    Academy in the country and in Paris, while Mioara Minulescu studied at the Fine
    Arts Academy in Rome. And indeed, here, on the premises, there are a great many
    works signed by the two: mosaics, paintings, sculptures and various works of
    art.


    Apart from the two landlords’ works of art, the
    memorial house also plays host to the work of some friends of the family.

    Adrian David:


    With Minulescu, there are more than
    100 paintings. There are a couple of dozen sculptures. All signed by great
    names of the domestic fine arts, part of whom were very good friends of Claudia
    Milian’s. Her best friends were Cecilia Cuțescu- Storck and her sister, Ortansa
    Satmari.


    In the mid-1990s, after the death of the two writers’
    daughters, Puia Rebreanu and Mioara Minulescu, the two apartments were donated
    to the state so that they could be turned into memorial houses highlighting the
    activity of the two writers, but also the personality of the women who stood by
    their side.




  • Cultural Bucharest

    Cultural Bucharest

    The Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest used to be a royal
    residence. Today it is the main building of the Presidential Administration.
    Right opposite to it, in the posh Cotroceni area, we can find two memorial
    houses dedicated to two of Romania’s interwar writers. They were so different
    from one another in terms of writing, yet they were so close in mundane life:
    they were actually close friends. They are prose writer Liviu Rebreanu and poet
    Ion Minulescu. In the former case, the museum-apartment bears the name of Liviu
    Rebreanu and his wife, Fanny Rebreanu, with the apartment being the only one
    such site in Bucharest where then the family’s domestic atmosphere has been
    recomposed; so was the writer’s study with his bookcase and the writer’s
    personal items. Liviu Rebreanu was a member of the Romanian Academy and a
    dignitary holding quite a few official positions. A textbook prose writer,
    Liviu Rebreanu was born in Transylvania, at a time when Transylvania was still
    part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Among other things, Liviu Rebreanu is
    remembered as the author who captured the psychology of his characters in an
    utterly realistic manner. Rebreanu was born in 1885 and died in 1944, shortly
    before the communist regime was instated in Romania. In 1934, he bought the
    apartment in Cotroceni for his adoptive daughter, Puia-Florica Rebreanu. Liviu
    Rebreanu never lived there, yet the house has emphatically preserved the daily
    life of the family’s intimacy. Here is museographer Adrian David, with details
    on that.


    The residence has quite aptly earned
    the status of Liviu Rebreanu Memorial House because, after the writer died in
    Valea Mare, near Pitesti, his wife move to this apartment with her daughter and
    son-in-law, and here they transferred whatever it was that they could retrieve from the writer’s former real estate property. The apartment, today known as the
    Rebreanu Memorial House was donated to
    the Museum of Romanian Literature in 1992 by the writer’s adoptive daughter,
    Puia Rebreanu. When the former owner dies in 1995 and following a time when the
    residence was refurbished, the apartment entered the museum circuit, in effect
    belonging to the Romanian state, together


    So those who, at present, may want to get the chance
    to know Rebreanu in the intimacy of his family, can travel to the Cotroceni
    area and visit the little block of flats where the museum-apartment can be
    found.

    Museographer Adrian David:


    Rebreanu’s desk, where he sat down and
    wrote his entire work…Those who come visit may notice, for instance, near the desk,
    the oriental table for the writer’s coffee serving set, these two items were
    always there since he was a coffee addict and a night-time writer. We’ve got
    Rebreanu’s lamp, owl-shaped and which Rebreanu had on the desk all the time. We
    have a clock Rebreanu brought for himself from his native Transylvania which
    back then was under Austrian-Hungarian occupation, It was an imperial clock, which
    took him back to the native region he had no choice other than leaving and
    relocating to the Old Kingdom. But over and above anything else,
    attention-grabbing for those who step into the memorial house is the lavish
    display of fine art. There are a great many works, most of them authored by
    some of Rebreanu’s friends, some of them were even made in Liviu Rebreanu’s
    house. For instance, in the lobby there are three portraits drawn by Iosif
    Iser. There were there after the 1913 Christmas, held in the Rebreanus’ house,
    where among the guests were painters Camil Ressu, Iosif Iser, alongside other
    very good friends. During that Christmas evening the fir-tree was on fire because
    of the candles, and, according to Puia Rebreanu’s own account, all the presents
    they received for Christmas were burned. But, she said, thank God Iosif Iser’s
    drawings remained intact, bringing back the memories of that day. Also, there
    are many icons, all of them from Transylvania. Rebreanu was very religious and
    very superstitious.


    In stark contrast with Liviu Rebreanu, another author
    lived in the adjoining apartment. He was symbolist poet Ion Minulescu, who was
    born in 1881 and who died also in 1944. His verse was extremely popular among
    the sentimental youth of that time. Even the design of that home, which was a
    lot more spacious, was different, as the imprint was that of a much more
    bohemian atmosphere as against the restraint of the Rebreanu residence.

    Adrian
    David:


    The block of flats where both memorial houses can be found, that of Ion
    Minulescu and that of Liviu Rebreanu, was brought into service in 1934. Back in
    the day it was known as the Professors’ Block of flats and was purpose-built
    for the teaching staff. Ion Minulescu’s wife, poet Claudia Millian, was a
    high-school teacher and a principal. Liviu Rebreanu got hold of the apartment
    with the help of Ion Minulescu, who facilitated Rebreanu a loan from the
    Teaching Staff Center. In the meantime, the two writers’ wives and daughters
    became friends. Actually, in the Ion Minulescu Claudia Millian Memorial
    House, all family members are represented in equal proportion, since, apart
    from Ion Minulescu, with whom we are very familiar, his wife and daughter were
    also artists and writers. Claudia graduated form the Conservatory of Dramatic
    Art, while Mioara Minulescu, their daughter, initially read Letters and the
    French language. Actually, Claudia Millian also studied with the Fine Arts
    Academy in the country and in Paris, while Mioara Minulescu studied at the Fine
    Arts Academy in Rome. And indeed, here, on the premises, there are a great many
    works signed by the two: mosaics, paintings, sculptures and various works of
    art.


    Apart from the two landlords’ works of art, the
    memorial house also plays host to the work of some friends of the family.

    Adrian David:


    With Minulescu, there are more than
    100 paintings. There are a couple of dozen sculptures. All signed by great
    names of the domestic fine arts, part of whom were very good friends of Claudia
    Milian’s. Her best friends were Cecilia Cuțescu- Storck and her sister, Ortansa
    Satmari.


    In the mid-1990s, after the death of the two writers’
    daughters, Puia Rebreanu and Mioara Minulescu, the two apartments were donated
    to the state so that they could be turned into memorial houses highlighting the
    activity of the two writers, but also the personality of the women who stood by
    their side.