69. The Garden Evening [1992]

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69. The Garden Evening [1992]

Horia Bernea

1938, Bucureşti - 2000, Paris

Estimate:

EUR 20.000 - 30.000

Sold

EUR 28.000

References

"Horia Bernea", The National Museum of Art of Romania. Contemporary Art Department, Bucharest, 1997. The monography "Horia Bernea", Noi media print Publishing House, 2008. "Școala de la Poiana Mărului" ("The Poiana Mărului School"), Brașov Art Museum Publishing House, 2013.

oil on canvas, 114 x 146 cm, 114 Ã 146 cm, signed and dated bottom left, in green, "Bernea, 12. (19)92"

Research information

The work was part of the "Gardens" exhibition from the Bucharest National Theatre, 1994. A version of the work is reproduced in the monography "Horia Bernea", Noi Media Print, Bucharest, on page 157.

PROVENANCE

Eugenia VodÄ collection.

The name of Horia Bernea is closely connected with "The Poiana Mărului School". His own history is juxtaposed with the history of the countryside settlement, and the years he spent here as a child would convince him to return, as an adult, to the village that served as his cradle. The artist was the main personality of the group, who often came together to paint in the small village near Braşov. Taking over the international model of the Barbizon or the Fontainebleau Schools, Poiana Mărului proved itself fruitful for the creation of those artists who used to place their canvases on its hills. "The Primordial Village", as it is remembered by critics, offered the artists peace and an excuse to evade the urban tumult. However, in Bernea's work, this tumult transposed itself into a series dedicated to Gardens. The paintings depicting gardens are unmistakeable. The artist worked in a fragmented manner and he separated his colours in a plethora of short lines, which, when put together, create that compositional harmony that Bernea sought to render throughout his creation. In the flamboyant setting, we can identify gardens slit by clear skies or by clouds heralding rain. With an unpredictable approach, the artist sketched gardens in which we can easily distinguish the architecture of the living space. Nature is sometimes depicted in raw green, and, at other times, in darker shades. Household motifs are also ever present. Whether they appear erratically, or whether they become a focal point, the clothes lines complete Bernea's series. Colourful flower pots, as well as tables that are either empty or full, harmoniously complete the final composition. This work provides a different setting, proposing a much less frequently encountered moment in the artist’s creation: the sunset. The clear blue of the sky harmoniously blends with the shades of red and pink which reveal the sunlight, while also concealing it. The focal point gradually moves from the ecstatic nature and the dissonant green from the foreground, to the far plane of the twilight sky. Bernea's modernity is revealed to us especially in his capacity to encode the symbol even in the most commonplace motifs. The artist's painting, deeply organic and of a vital accomplishment, embeds the floral-vegetable motif, transposing it into art. (D.C.)

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