13. Carnations [1927]

Having a sensitive and prodigious character, but confident in his powers, Gheorghe Petrașcu will abandon the copyist model promoted by his predecessors and will rely on the spontaneity of his execution. Having a unique talent, he will be remarked by Nicolae Grigorescu and by G.D. Mirea will also get, through his vocation, to develop professionally during study trips abroad. He debuts in front of the Bucharest audience in 1900, with a personal exhibition. The painting the artist proposes is more violent than of his predecessors. Petrașcu opts for a dark chromatic and for the use of strident contrasts. He evokes natural aspects by his specific chromatic and does not shy away from using black, red and electric green in abundance. Petrașcu's floral elegies will acquire the status of true pictorial performances due to the completely different manner of execution from that of Grigorescu, Luchian or Andreescu. He is distinguished by the force of realistic expressiveness and the austere look of his works. The succulent paste, carefully placed with the tip of the knife transfigures reality through the complexity and hardness of the material used. The artist proves to be a true master of the technique and inserts lights into colour, but he will learn to master the mysteries of black, which he assimilates through the work of Goya. In general, he paints modest, accessible to the common man flowers: carnations, poppies, tulips or chrysanthemums. Frugally depicted in vivid and strong colours, Petrașcu's carnations become a visceral record of a fragment of nature set against an inorganic background.

References

OPRESCU, George, "Gheorghe Petrașcu", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1963.

Dimensions

width 24 cm, height 16.5 cm, custom 16,5 × 24 cm

Description

oil on plywood, signed upper left, in white, "G. Petrașcu"

Lot.notes

on the back, signed and dated in black, "G. Petrașcu, (1)927"

Dating

1927

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