Horea Cucerzan (1938–2021) was a Romanian painter whose oeuvre combined a strong attachment to national traditions with an openness towards European cultural dialogues. Born in Blaj, he graduated in 1963 from The ”Ion Andreescu” Academy of Fine Arts in Cluj-Napoca, where he studied painting. From 1973 onwards, he was an active member of the Union of Visual Artists in Romania and exhibited consistently in both national and international contexts. 

Cucerzan’s international presence was particularly notable in Italy, where he held numerous solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Accademia di Romania in Rome, the Civica Cavour Gallery in Padua, and the Palazzo del Rettorato in Potenza. His work was also presented in Venice, Tarquinia, Milan, and Civitavecchia, while in Romania he participated regularly in municipal and national exhibitions. His contribution to heritage conservation is likewise significant, having restored in 1989 the fifteenth-century mural paintings of the Lippomano Palace in Padua. 

His paintings are characterised by a spiritual intensity and a restrained yet refined chromatic palette - qualities critics have recognised as hallmarks of his artistic voice. He is also remembered as the only Romanian painter ever to have exhibited at the Vatican Pinacoteca of Modern Art, where one of his works was displayed for two years. 

Cucerzan’s canvases can be found in public and private collections in Romania and abroad, bearing witness to an artistic trajectory that combined technical discipline with a profound search for meaning in contemporary painting.