In the 4^th episode of the “Who is Romania” show, Tessa Dunlop talks about Nicolae Grigorescu, the most famous painter of our country, who lived at the end of the 19^th century, the man who “gave impressionism and realism their Romanian dimension”.

Maybe the most impressive work of the painter Nicolae Grigorescu is the painting made at the Agapia Monastery in Neamț. When she talks about the icons painted by Grigorescu, Tessa Dunlop challenges us: “even if you are an atheist, an uninitiated, try to look at the murals in the monasteries and remain indifferent.” Surely you will be moved because all those icons have life, breath, as our great painter said, “we have to humanize the Divine, so that the icons make our souls vibrate, or they are nothing but merely images.”

Nicolae Grigorescu was a sublime, complete and complex artist, who created exquisite icons, churches, landscapes and war scenes. He was a painter in the front line during the Romanian War of Independence. It is no wonder that when he withdrew from the spotlight, Grigorescu settled in the countryside. Then, in the “white period”, he reached the highest peak of his artistic maturity and he captured the true poetry of Romania in the real sense.

“In life, the same as in his art, this man was authentic. Even today, in our busy world, it surprises us. He is one of the best-selling Romanian painters. His paintings are sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds (GBP). And what about the contribution he made to Romania, to the arts, to the European culture? Well, it’s priceless,” says Tessa Dunlop.

You can watch the full-length material in the video below:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=666551553999571

Who is Romania, a project created by Tessa Dunlop and Storytails for the Romanian Cultural Institute in London, in a special presentation with the National Art Museum of Romania and the Ministry of Culture.