101. Autumn in Brebu [cca. 1908]

Accompanied by the Cocea family, Luchian undertook, summer after summer, reflective-cultural itineraries to Constanța, Poiana in Ialomița, Techirghiol, Bărăgan, Brebu or Moinești. From the moment of his discharge from the Pantelimon Hospital in 1901, the artist would not be separated from the family who took him under 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 epoch, belonging to the rower Moser. Moser was a friend of Ernest Cocea, the husband of the artist's cousin, Paulina Cocea. At Brebu, the travelers rented some rooms and a kitchen within the monastery. The courtyard of the religious establishment and the hills of Lunca Doftanei served as a workshop for the painter who, at the height of his artistic maturity, accomplished some of his most significant works. The beauty of the landscapes, the warm green of the trees, and the azure blue of the sky served as inspiration for Luchian for works such as "The Fountain of Brebu", "The Monastic Kitchen", or "The Tower of Brebu". In a period that spanned only a few weeks, the artist created over twenty pastel landscapes. Pastels 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 peace 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 reserves now a certain involvement by cutting or enlarging the foreground according to his beliefs. In a letter that he wrote at Brebu, Luchian confessed: "I am very satisfied and work with such love as I do not remember to have ever worked. But only I know how hard it is for me to put together a landscape... if it weren't for the splendor of nature to invigorate me, I wouldn't move anymore." His words reflect his relentless love for art and nature, but also the regret and unrest in the face of the unknown and the illness that was taking over his body. In the work in front of us, the luminous plans and the way in which the artist relates to the treatment of the ground or to the dotting of the trees, hills, and vegetation remind us of Van Gogh, just as in oil painting the green of the meadows and the blue of the sky point to Manet. Luchian will no longer fully conform to conventions of form, but will lean towards an idyllic vision, through which the landscape sketched from just a few brush strokes presents itself as finished work.

References

DRAGUT, Vasile, "Luchian", Meridiane Press, Bucharest, 1968. LASSAIGNE, Jacques, "Stefan Luchian", Meridiane Press, Bucharest, 1972. CEBUC, Alexandru, "Luchian", Monitorul Official Press, Bucharest, 2008.

Dimensions

width 44 cm, height 34 cm

Description

pastel pe hârtie lipită pe carton, signed bottom right, in brown, "Luchian"

Dating

cca. 1908

PROVENANCE

Until 1964, Dr. Ioan Dumitrescu-Popovici's collection; 1964-2004, the heritage of the National Museum of Art of Romania; From 2004, the collection of the Dumitrescu-Popovici family's heirs.

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