50. Water Lilies [1903-1905]

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50. Water Lilies [1903-1905]

Nicolae Grigorescu

1838, Pitaru, Dâmboviţa - 1907, Câmpina

Estimate:

EUR 20.000 - 35.000

Sold

EUR 41.000

References

BELDIMAN, Ioana, IANCOVESCU, Ioana, DRĂGOI, Livia, "Seulescu-Stere Collection", Prahova County Art Museum, Ploieşti, EDIT ART, 2003 VLAHUȚĂ, Alexandru, "The Painter N.I.Grigorescu. His Life and Work", Bucharest, The Schools House Edition, Socec, 1910

oil on wood, 48 x 12.5 cm, signed bottom right, in red, "Grigorescu"

Research information

The work is reproduced in "The Painter N. I. Grigorescu", by Alexandru Vlahuţă, Bucharest, 1910, page 251.

PROVENANCE

the diplomat Pamfil Ripoșanu's collection

For Nicolae Grigorescu, the experience of plein air painting early on shaped his ability to capture light variations and to transpose nature onto canvas with the same acuity even in studio painting. Grigorescu's chapter on still life with flowers mainly takes form in the 1860s and 1870s, during his studies and creative trips in France (Paris and Barbizon). In the spring, he was attracted to apple, apricot or cherry blossoms; in the summer, the roses gave him the opportunity to study the relationships between color and surface, as we can see in works such as "Wild Roses", where the flowers, not arranged in a vase but freely forming a pyramid, are treated as a fragment of the landscape. His international recognition in this genre comes early: in 1868, Napoleon III purchased from the Fontainebleau artists' exhibition a "Flower Pot" signed by the Romanian artist, an event proudly noted by the press of the time. The still-life genre was approached by Nicolae Grigorescu throughout his creative activity. The present work is part of a remarkable series of variations on the same theme, specific to the period around 1900, in which Grigorescu frequently revisits the theme of the flowering branch. Works such as "Bouquet of Bright Flowers" (Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Agen), "Cherry Blossoms" from the Brașov Art Museum or "Cherry Blossoms" from Queen Elizabeth's collection testify to the consistency with which the artist explored this theme on similar-sized veneer supports. The composition emphasizes the verticality of the rectangular support, a small format that the artist prefers. Therefore, inscribed in the last creative stage of Grigorescu, the present work bears the marks of the "white period" (1890-1907), marked by a bright, open chromatic palette, dominated by tones of pearly grays, whites and a silver brightness. Thus, against the open, almost immaterial background, the branch seems to float, free of any weight. The absence of a defined spatial context concentrates all attention on the white flowers, whose delicacy is rendered through shades of white, yellow and green. (L.M)

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