Strong colour, flat areas
Influenced by Romanian folk art and by the East together.
Joe Mabel — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Joe Mabel — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Joe Mabel — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Joe Mabel — CC BY-SA 4.0
A small museum joining the work of the Romanian painter Vasile Grigore to his private collection, in his former Bucharest house, opened in 2003. The museum's formal title — Vasile Grigore, painter and collector — explains its idea: the artist is shown in both capacities at once, what he made and what he chose to own. That juxtaposition reveals the painter's taste more than his canvases alone do. Grigore (1935–2012) studied in Bucharest and travelled widely, painting in strong colour and flat areas influenced by Romanian folk art and by the East together. His private collection reflects the travel: oriental carpets, icons, pieces of Asian and African art, and paintings by contemporary Romanian artists among his friends. This kind of museum — an artist's house with his collection — is common in Bucharest and is among the best things in it for a visitor wanting something quiet away from crowds. It is small and rarely crowded.
Influenced by Romanian folk art and by the East together.
Oriental carpets, icons, Asian and African pieces.
What an artist owns can reveal more than his canvases.
Maica Domnului area, Bucharest
Because the Romanian educated class collected intensively in the twentieth century, and political circumstances after 1948 then imposed a hard choice: nationalisation or donation. Many gave their collections to the state on condition they stay in their houses and carry their names — the only way of guaranteeing they stayed together. The result is a network of small museums across the city, each with the character of its collector.
Pick at most three that are geographically close, and check each one's hours separately — a closure one or two days a week is common and not standardised. Start early, as most close at five. Remember the labels are mostly Romanian, so a camera translation app is very useful. Distances in Bucharest are easily covered by metro.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.