47. Interior with Poppies and Daisies

1877, Craiova - 1953, Bucureşti

Estimate

EUR 8.000 - 12.000

Sold

EUR 22.000

Session

Thu, 14 December 2023 19:00

Francisc Șirato's debut is tangentially linked to Impressionism, but the artist believes that this artistic current limits him too much to the passive-decorative function of the canvas. The sources of his inspiration can be easily identified in the Romanian traditional art and in the imitative vision of Cézanne. From the latter, the artist took over the concern for balance and compositional organization, while Romanian traditional art served as a reference for the fascinating science of colour. Nature appears, in his creation, as the primordial inspiration source. 'Apollonian and solar', as Petru Comarnescu remarked, Francisc Șirato will introduce chiaroscuro effects in the coloured planes, and will achieve a firm agreement between theme, vision and technique. From the 1930s onwards, flowers would appear more and more often in his work. The ornamental decoration, with rustic accents; but also the fullness and vitality of the floral elegies will establish the artist as one of the important cultural personalities of the last century. In this work, he creates a veritable microcosm into which he seamlessly inserts fragments of his reveries. He will constantly relate to nature and use bright colours to synthesise the light of the surrounding atmosphere in which he operates. Against a background of intimate inspiration, a space that could be interpreted as his own studio, the pitcher with poppies and daisies occupies the foreground of the composition in which the artist introduces us, without hesitation, into his familiar universe. In the back we can see another work by the artist. The ochre-filled outlines and the radiant blue of the sky are most likely indicative of a landscape in Balchik. Two of the artist's favourite themes are thus brought together in this work: the unusual world of the Black Sea and the impressive world of flowers. The chromatic harmony is concentrated in the central plane, in the synergy of red, purple, blue or dark blue. The fourth decade of the last century marks an important milestone in Șirato's work. The artist now becomes much more concerned with the study of objects. The reflective temperament is unquestionably revealed to the public through the careful study of nature and the environment. The artist stands out due to the exaltation of nuances and the delineation of the tones, but also due to the way he preserves the vibrancy and warmth of the human presence in the still lifes in which he focuses mainly on objects. Arranged in several planes, the elements chosen by the artist follow one another in a lyrical unfolding of meanings and enhance each other's aesthetic value.

References

DRĂGUȚ, Vasile, 'Fr. Șirato', State Publishing House for Literature and Art, Bucharest, 1956. ISPIR, Mihai, 'Șirato', Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1979.

Dimensions

width 50 cm, height 59.5 cm, custom 59,5 × 50 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed bottom right, in orange, 'Șirato'

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