The Art Collections Museum in Bucharest is hosted in an old villa, one of those beautiful classical, historical buildings in the Romanian capital - Romanit Palace - on Victory Avenue, No 111. This old and elegant house was built in the first years of the 19th century, and in about 1830 was bought by Grigore Romanit, a high ranking official of those times. In the years of Alexandru Ghica the house was used as official headquarters for the governement and later was used by the Finance Ministry. In 1884 two new buldings expansions were added, yet the original Neo-Classical style was kept. For the following decades, the Romanit Palace was used for various official destinations, and only in 1978 the Art Collections Museum was opened here. And it was a great idea, for the richness and diversity of the collections were very well complemented by the classical architecture and rich interior decorations, as the palace was very well preserved and kept.
Unfortunatelly, during the last years of Communist regime the funds were low, so the building wasn't kept up to point. After 1989 it took a while for the Art Collections Museum's building to be renovated and restored, and in the fall of 2003 14 of the 44 collections in the institution's deposit were once again put on display. It is but a small portion of the treasures kept here, but for art lovers it is a nice change. Due mainly to space restraints, the exhibitions will change regularly, so everyone can eventually enjoy them.
In the deposits of the museum we can find 44 famous collections, donated over time by the families to the Romanian state, beginning with 1927. Some names : the Hurmuz Aznavorian Collection, the Josefina and Eugen Taru Collection, Dr Emanoil Romulus Collection, Sica Alexandrescu Collection, the Clara and Anatol E. Baconsky Colleciton and many others. Most of these names are now forgotten, but in the past these families plyed a major role in the cultural and political life of Romania. And each collection has some unique works of art, of great value, really helped by the elegance and classical beauty of the exhibition space. Over all, there are over 12.000 works of art in the museum's deposits, covering all of the diverse types of works, from painting to drawings and engravings, from sculpture to decorative art.
But the most interesting part of the Art Collections Museum treasure is the Romanian art works. From folk art - icons, ceramics, furniture, most of them really old - to the works of great masters such as Nicolae Grigorescu, Stefan Luchian, Ioan Andreescu, Jean Al. Steriadi, Francisc Sirato, Gheorghe Petrascu, Nicolae Tonitza, Nicolae Darascu, Theodor Pallady, Iosif Iser, Alexandru Ciucurencu, Oscar Han, Corneliu Medrea, Milita Patrascu. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, sketches, all of these for all tastes. The museum is not interesting only for the Romanian art collections, but also for the Oriental art collections. In the past, Oriental art was highly apreciated by Romanian collectors, and some works of this kind were bought and sold for very high prices. Also, visitors can admire some classical pieces of European furniture, glass and ceramics objects, old Egyptian art, Turkish carpets and many others.
Of great interest and value are also the selections of works made by great international masters, mainly from the French, Dutch and Italian schools. It is fascinating to think how works by Camille Pissarro or Vincent van Gogh came in the possesion of Romanian collectors, many of these being rare, even obscure creations of the great artists. When were they bought, for what sums of money, were they traded in for other works, did the collector really like a certain painting or was just trying to add a famous name to his catalogue.
2007-12-20
