27. House in Brebu [cca. 1908]

In the summer of 1908, Ștefan Luchian arrived in Brebu with one of the first cars of the era, belonging to rower Moser. Moser was a friend of Ernest Cocea, the husband of the artist's cousin, Paulina Cocea. In Brebu, the travelers rent several rooms and a kitchen from the monastery. The courtyard of the church and the hills of Lunca Doftanei would serve as the painter's studio who, in full artistic maturity, would create some of his most significant works here. The beauty of the landscapes, the warm green of the trees and the azure blue of the sky served as inspiration for Luchian in works such as "Fountain of Brebu", "Monastic Kitchen" or "Brebu Tower". Over a period of just a few weeks, the artist created more than twenty pastel landscapes. Pastel facilitated the lyrical transposition of nature, maintaining the chromatic ranges found in the landscape. The arabesques of the trees or the foliage and the spiritual calm of the rural panoramas contributed to the perfection of Luchian's work and led to the fulfillment of the creative act in the midst of nature. The artist now reserves a certain involvement through cropping or enlarging the foreground according to his own beliefs. In a letter he drafted in Brebu, Luchian confessed: "I am very satisfied and I work with as much love as I do not remember ever having worked. But only I know how hard I can put together a landscape...if it weren't for the splendor of nature to invigorate me, I wouldn't move anymore." We find in his words his insatiable love for art and nature, but also regret and unrest in the face of the unknown and the disease taking over his body. Luchian will no longer fully conform to the conventions of form, but will lean towards an idyllic vision, in which the sketch landscape presented through just a few brushstrokes is seen as a completed work.

References

DRĂGUȚ, Vasile, "Luchian", Meridiane Edition, Bucharest, 1968. LASSAIGNE, Jacques, "Ștefan Luchian", Meridiane Edition, Bucharest, 1972. CEBUC, Alexandru, "Luchian", Official Monitor Edition, Bucharest, 2008.

Dimensions

width 35 cm, height 31 cm

Description

cărbune și pastel pe hârtie, signed lower left, in pencil, "Luchian"

Dating

cca. 1908

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