146. Landscape at Brebu [1908-1910]

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146. Landscape at Brebu [1908-1910]

Ştefan Luchian

1868, Ştefăneşti - 1916, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 15.000 - 25.000

Sold post auction

EUR 15.000

References

DRAGUT, Vasile, "Luchian", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1968. LASSAIGNE, Jacques, "Stefan Luchian", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1972. CEBUC, Alexandru, "Luchian", Official Monitor Publishing House, Bucharest, 2008.

oil on canvas, 29 x 42.5 cm, signed bottom left, in black, "Luchian"

Research information

The pastel version of the work is found in the collection of the National Brukenthal Museum. The artwork was part of the commemorative exhibition "Luchian the innovator", Simu Museum, Bucharest, 1968 and is reproduced in the exhibition catalog under cat. 13 with the name "Landscape (Grove)."

PROVENANCE

Ion Stambulescu collection (president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice between November 7, 1930 - February 17, 1931).

Accompanied by the Cocea family, Luchian would undertake, summer after summer, itineraries for reflexive-cultural purposes to Constanța, to the Meadow in Ialomița, to Techirghiol, in Bărăgan, to Brebu or Moinești. From the moment of his discharge from Pantelimon Hospital in 1901, the artist would be inseparable from the family that took him into their care until the end of his life. In the summer of 1908, Ștefan Luchian arrived at Brebu with one of the first cars of the time, belonging to the rower Moser. Moser was a friend of Ernest Cocea, the husband of the artist's cousin, Paulina Cocea. In Brebu, the travellers rented several rooms and a kitchen within the monastery. The courtyard of the place of worship and the hills from the Lunca Doftanei would serve as the painter's studio who, at the peak of his 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 would serve Luchian as inspiration for works such as "The Fountain at Brebu", "The Monastic Kitchen" or "The Tower at Brebu". Over a period that spanned only a few weeks, the artist made over 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 would contribute to the perfection of the pastel art in Luchian's work and would also lead to the fulfillment of the creative act in the midst of nature. The artist now reserves a certain involvement by cutting out or magnifying the foreground according to his own beliefs. In a letter that he wrote at Brebu, Luchian confessed: "I am very satisfied and I work with such love as I do not remember ever having worked. But only I know how hard it is for me to freeze a landscape...if it weren't for the splendour of the nature to invigorate me, I would not move anymore”. In his words we find his relentless love for art and nature, but also regret and anxiety in the face of the unknown and the disease that was taking over his body. The present work was presented to the public during the exhibition "Luchian the Innovator", organized at the Simu Museum in 1968; and the pastel version of the work is found in the collection of the Brukenthal Museum.

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