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55. Breton [cca. 1880]

Nicolae Grigorescu

1838, Pitaru, Dâmboviţa - 1907, Câmpina

Estimate

EUR 20.000 - 30.000

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Session

Thu, 18 June 2026 19:00

In the vast work of Nicolae Grigorescu, we encounter the same themes treated differently, depending on the notable pictorial elements of his professional formation. The artist proposes the same subject in different artistic registers, each time embodying the specifics of the source of inspiration. Even though the mid-1870s marked a peak and at the same time established his name in Romanian modernity, Grigorescu's career was to experience a much more valuable decade in the 1880s, when his palette matures. He exhibited the painting "A corner of my workshop" at the Paris Salon of 1882, and in the following years worked in Paris, Brolles and Vitre. In 1885 he organized a solo exhibition with 47 works in one of the halls of the artistic and literary society "Club Intim" in Bucharest. A year later, a new exhibition took place, with 18 works, back at Club Intim. The present work is part of the cycle of paintings made in Vitre, a charming location of medieval Brittany where Grigorescu had, as of 1876, the revelation of the preferred motifs of his work. As he confessed to Vlahuță, he had a special affection for this group of paintings: ''In the catalog they were put together: Vitre...leu 14,000 [...] - Probably you wonder why I put them so expensive? I won't sell them. I remember incredibly beautiful days working on these little things. And what nice people were there!'' (VLAHUȚĂ, A., 1969, page 36). What interests Grigorescu in our painting, is not only the charm of the motif to which, clearly, he is sensitive (the theme of these peasant interiors existed in the French painting of the period, see the work of Léon Lhermitte), but especially the pictorial subject of the scene: the strong contrast, in the style of modern Rembrandt, between the darkness of the room and the powerful, daytime light that floods through the open window. The artist studies the pictorial subject of the scene through a studied chiaroscuro, but with vivid and warm strokes. Volumes and masses are created from the paste, like a clay spread and modeled by a sculptor. In the style learned from Barbizon, starting from the reality in front of him, the artist unfolds a whole lighting director, skillfully distributed in the composition. He lays down the colors quickly, in vivid and rich strokes, simultaneously wishing to capture the play of light and to construct the central forms through an ample paste.

References

VLAHUȚĂ, Alexandru, "The Painter N.I.Grigorescu. His Life and Work", Bucharest, Schools House Edition, Socec, 1910 ENACHE, Monica, MATEI, Rodica, VIDA, Mariana, "Grigorescu. Painter of nature" (catalog), National Art Museum of Romania, Bucharest, 2007 MATEI, Rodica, "Grigorescu, painter of nature", National Art Museum of Romania, 2008 COMARNESCU, Petru, "The vision of nature in the work of N. Grigorescu" in "Testimonials about N. Grigorescu", ESPLA, 1957 CEBUC, Alexandru, "Grigorescu", Official Monitor, 2007

Dimensions

width 20 cm, height 25 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed bottom left, in red, "Grigorescu"

Research information

A version of the work is reproduced in the Minerva Calendar, 1908, under the name "Breton working". A version of the work is reproduced in ŞIRATO, Francisc, "Modern Romanian Art. Grigoresco", Apollo Collection Directed by Al. Bsuioceanu, cat. No. XVI.

Dating

cca. 1880

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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