I arrive at Muzeul Național de Artă al României, and as I walk through the gate, I see that there are several doors to the palace-like building. The one closest to me has a big sail to its left signifying the European Art Gallery. I can see that the door in the middle of the building has such a sign for the historical area, and the one on the far right is for Romanian art.
I start where I am at the European Art Gallery. The door is heavy, ornate and made of a silver-coloured metal. The foyer is palatial, and after buying my ticket and checking my coat, I am shown to the staircase.
The way through the museum is prescribed and goes through a series of rooms, then up another stair to another series of rooms, and it continues that way. The exhibition is divided into different schools of painting, Spanish school, Italian school, German, Dutch, French, as well as different timeframes starting in medieval times where everything is religious. I cannot describe the amount of crucifixions, Virgin Mary’s with baby’s, and other such themes there are in different interpretations by several artists. It gets more interesting (for me) as I go on and the paintings become more secular, and also a few sculptures appear.
I have no education in visual or fine arts and have never shown much interest in art history. I go only by feeling to decide what I like, what elicits some kind of feeling in me, and what doesn’t. What I like the best in the European Art Gallery are the Rodin sculptures, and indeed, some of the French paintings. I know I’m supposed to be impressed that they have a Monet and a Pissaro because even I know their names, but they weren’t my favourites. I include here a few photos of my favourite pieces (and also the Monet and Pissaro). And some of the interior of the museum, which is quite stunning in places.
(It keeps going after the following photos…)
Back outside of the European Art wing, I see a few sculptures by Romanian artists on my way to the Historical Area of the museum. I go through the same type of door and arrive in a palatial hall, where I am greeted by a Romanian man. As I take photos and walk into the space, he tells me to wait a moment (and points to where I should stand) while he is talking with a young couple. He sends them away to meet their group in the Romanian Art wing and buy tickets there first. Then he attends to me and tries to tell me that I need to first check my backpack. I explain that it’s more a purse and that I have everything important in it, wallet, phone, etc, so he relents and concedes that I can keep it with me if I carry it on one shoulder and hold it in front of me. But I can’t carry my coat over my arm, he says, I have to leave it on if I don’t want to check it. I say, okay, although I don’t understand why. He prescribes the way to go, describes what I’ll see, and asserts that I am not allowed to open any doors that are closed. Okay. I am on my way.
The building that houses the museum used to be a palace used by royals, and the historical area is preserved that way. First, I walk into a hall on the ground floor that was used for functions. There are some signs with information, but they are only in Romanian, not in English. The hall is large, and I can imagine a ball in period costumes here. The paintings are underscoring the light tone of the space.
Next, I get to an impressive stairway with a heroic ceiling fresco surrounded by reliefs of Romanian kings and royals. I walk around the top of it before I walk into the throne hall, which is larger than the hall on the ground floor. At the very end, I see a life-sized picture of a throne on the wall where one would have been located back in the day. There is a ceiling fresco and a little dome above the throne area, and I can imagine what it would be like to stand in front of the king in this impressive hall exuding power.
By now, I feel quite hot in my winter coat, yet there are surveillance cameras, and another man keeps coming in to seemingly check on me, so I don’t take off my jacket. I can follow instructions, even nonsensical ones, but I’m not liking it.
I stroll back through the hall towards the staircase and soon I’m out of the historical area palace and decide to still go to the Romanian Art Gallery as well, although it is a lot of art to take in for one day.
The National wing is divided into the Romanian Medieval Art Gallery (Galeria de Artă Veche Românească) and The Romanian Modern Art Gallery (Galeria de Artă Românească Moderna). The medieval part has thrones, many religious icons, church doors and altar pieces; it’s located on its own floor in the museum. Further up, I get to the modern art.
The Romanian Modern Art Gallery is very engaging; I see many paintings and sculptures that I like. If you ever go to Bucharest and visit this museum, my advice would be to not do all three wings on one day. Not even halfway through this wing, I get hungry and lightheaded, my feet are tired and I just need a rest; instead I push through to the end and don’t really see and enjoy the best part of the museum as much in depth as I could. A fueling break or a return visit the next day would be a good idea, but of course, I stubbornly stick to my plans.
I still find a lot of value here. My favourite paintings are by Arthur Segal, although it’s almost unfair to single these paintings out because they are just different, and there are hundreds of other paintings and artists I love here. Of course, Constantin Brâncuși requires a special mention. He is a renowned sculpturist who briefly studied under Rodin in Paris, but soon developed his own style. The Romanians are very proud of him as a national artist.
Before I leave the premises, I look at a few more sculptures in the garden. Even as a non-artsy person, I would highly recommend visiting this museum, and to start with the Romanian National Galleries.
Lovely. Now this was my kind of place. You know how I am about plants but this!!!
C
Very nice that you got to experience being in the presence of such art! When I was at the Louvre, I was surprised by the size of some of the paintings that were the most popular in our culture. Like you, I found that I liked better some of the lesser known pieces! The Mona Lisa was not that impressive after all… Thanks for sharing. Loved the bronze statues especially, “the kiss“. Beautiful!