86. Red Carnations

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86. Red Carnations

Octav Băncilă

1872, Corni, Botoșani - 1944, Bucureşti

Estimate:

EUR 3.500 - 5.500

Sold

EUR 11.000

References

COMAN, Anton, 'Băncilă', State Publishing House for Literature and Art, Bucharest, 1954.

oil on canvas, 60.5 x 68.5 cm, 60,5 Ã 68,5 cm, signed bottom right, in brown, 'Octav Băncilă'

Research information

The work participated in the 'Octav BÄncilÄ Painting Exhibition 1872-1972', Art Museum of the Russian Federation. Romania, Bucharest, 1972, under cat. 82 and is reproduced in the exhibition catalogue on page 88.

With a symbolism that resides in feelings such as love (whether romantic or familial), carnations appear with recurrence in the work of the artist from Iași. He decided to boldly translate the flowers in his garden (and beyond, but generally opted for an easily accessible type of flowers) into works of undeniable value. Occupying a central position and dominating the entire work without hesitation, the flower vase is clearly distinguished from the rest of the composition by contours, lines, chromatics and light effects. Presented to the public at the retrospective exhibition held in 1972 at the National Art Museum of Romania, the work is recorded and reproduced in the dedicated catalogue. Octav Băncilă chooses to paint both the background and the table on which the vase is placed in low tones and dark shades. For this vase, the artist uses shades of white in which he incorporates with his characteristic mastery both light effects and shadows. A few carnations are shyly sprouting from inside the vase, their once dignified and confident bodies preparing to slip into the eternal sleep in which the bright red will lose its glow. Seen as a whole, the present work reveals on one hand the painter's artistic mastery, and on the other allows us to enter his emotional universe, through the symbolism and emotional charge that resides in the contours of the flowers.

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