Masters of Modernity – A History of Romanian Modern Art offers a structured reading of Romanian artistic modernity, articulated through works that mark key moments of transition and synthesis between academic tradition and the emerging visual languages of the twentieth century. Rather than following a rigid chronology, the selection foregrounds how Romanian artists engaged with modernity through dialogue with European models and local artistic realities.

A central nucleus of the auction is formed by works by Ștefan Luchian, represented by The Grazing, Landscape, Forest Clearing and Still Life with Flowers. These works reflect the consolidation of a modern pictorial language grounded in direct observation of nature and the autonomy of chromatic construction. Landscape and still life are treated as self-contained visual structures, in which colour and materiality play a defining role in the organisation of the image.

A major highlight of the auction is Morning Landscape by Ion Andreescu, a work that approaches landscape as a problem of structure and visual balance. Light is employed with restraint, avoiding decorative effects, while nature is rendered in a sober, concentrated register. The painting marks a decisive moment in the departure of Romanian painting from academic descriptivism and its orientation towards a modernity defined by formal construction.

Romanian modernism’s openness to Western experience is exemplified by Samuel Mützner through At the Window, Balchik. The work reflects the artist’s direct engagement with French post-Impressionism and his adaptation of its chromatic concerns to a recognisable Eastern European setting.

The sculptural dimension of modernity is represented by Ion Irimescu, with Muse and Portrait. These works propose a purified treatment of the human figure, centred on volume, proportion and formal clarity, complementing the pictorial discourse of the auction through a restrained and rigorous sculptural language.

A fundamental historical reference is provided by Portrait of a Young Macedonian Woman by Theodor Aman, a work that illustrates the institutional formation of Romanian art and its early alignment with Western academic models, while maintaining an interest in human typologies drawn from the Balkan cultural space.

The selection is further enriched by works by Nicolae Tonitza, Dimitrie Berea, François Gall, Sava Henția, Alexandru Ciucurencu, Theodor Pallady, Camil Ressu, Ștefan Dimitrescu, Adam Bălțatu and Magdalena Rădulescu, together outlining a balanced panorama of Romanian modern art.

Through this carefully structured selection, Masters of Modernity provides a clear framework for understanding the evolution of Romanian modern art, allowing the works themselves to function as visual documents of a complex and sustained process of artistic transformation.