57. Venice (Chiesa di San Marcuola) [1934]

Petrașcu painted at Venice between 1902 and 1939, a period in which he seemingly took around 10 trips. Amongst his most important itineraries, one can find those that materialised in 1924, 1928 and 1934, years in which the painter persevered and accomplished a series of representative works. One of the motifs that particularly attracted him took shape around the majestic palaces lined along the Grand Canale, and one of the paintings representative for this cycle was made by Petrașcu in 1924, when he painted "Molibieri Palace. Venice" (Zambaccian Museum, inv. No 139). In the complexity of the style, Gheorghe Petrașcu’s art retains its two-dimensionality - a technique of a telluric and concrete nature, contributing to expressing a sense of calm and balance. The line contributes to the rendering of this static impression. An obvious example is highlighted with the help of the line breaks from the canvas which, as a matter of fact, has fluidity and a floating property. We can also note the variation and the alternation of the strokes, which lend depth and perspective to the entire visual unit. Petrașcu’s landscape is paradoxical: although it is quintessentially aquatic, it renders a sense of telluric and solid, which lends unquestionable value to the composition, and turns it into a Petrașcu-specific work par excellence. What remains palpable is the spirit of the artist, which is nowhere more significant than in his Venices, it is omnipresent and omniscient, like this genuine overview, unique in the rendering of the actuality - the painter’s time and place, as well as those that pertain to the viewer. The virtues rendered in terms of beauty are plane, and they resort to the present, the current, and the immediate; at the same time, the rendered subject gives the impression of an eternal, timeless charm. The viewer is not invited to think or to reflect in perspective spirals of the intellect; instead, they are engaged to feel and to experience now, together with the artist, the monumentally rendered instance. This work unfolds entirely along the coordinates imposed by the aquatic environment and it is particularly influenced by its qualities in the colour and light scheme. Although Petrașcu is often defined in view of the mineralising nature of the old walls or of the palaces, which is easily understood when speaking of a Venice, in this case we discover a balanced game between the three planes. The sky, although homogenized due to the pressure exerted by the tremendously recognizable blue - particularly the one from the paintings of the 20s - has the capacity to optimize its palette and to set the mood. Petrașcu easily attains monumentality and fills the view with materiality, the walls of the buildings being defined precisely by the contrast with the water surface, the place of an exceptional colour explosion.

Literatura

ZAMBACCIAN, K. H., "Pagini de artă" ("Pages of art"), Casa Şcoalelor Publishing House, Bucharest, 1943. FLOREA, Vasile, "Gheorghe Petrașcu", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1990.

Dimenzije

width 36 cm, height 27.5 cm

Opis

oil on cardboard, signed upper left, in blue, "G. Petrașcu"

Izlasci

1934

PODRIJETLO

Ecaterina Caragiale-Logadi historical collection.

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