Nicolae Dărăscu (February 18, 1883 – August 14, 1959) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n painter. He was influenced by

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and

Neo-impressionism Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the begin ...

Biography

Born in

Giurgiu Giurgiu (; ; ) is a city in southern Romania. The seat of Giurgiu County, it lies in the historical region of Muntenia. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city of Ruse on the op ...

, he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

between 1902 and 1906, in the class of

George Demetrescu Mirea George Demetrescu Mirea (1852, in Câmpulung – 12 December 1934, in Bucharest) was a Romanian portrait painter, muralist and art teacher. Biography He was one of twelve children born to an Archpriest. His first art lessons were at the "Școala ...

. After graduation, he was awarded a scholarship to the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(which, as an admirer of its former students

Nicolae Grigorescu Nicolae Grigorescu (; 15 May 1838 – 21 July 1907) was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting. He is considered by Romanians the greatest Romanian painter, and one of the founders of modern Romanian art. He is most known for paintin ...

and

Ștefan Luchian Ștefan Luchian (, last name also spelled Lukian; 1 February 1868 – 28 June 1916) was a Romanian painter, famous for his landscapes and still life works. Biography Early life Luchian was born in Ștefănești, a village of Botoșani County, ...

, he had wanted to attend). He studied under Jean-Paul Laurens and a year later, in 1907 at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

under

Luc-Olivier Merson Luc-Olivier Merson (21 May 1846 - 13 November 1920) was a French academic painter and illustrator. He was also known for his postage stamp and currency designs. Biography Born Nicolas Luc-Olivier Merson in Paris, France, he grew up in an arti ...

. Dărăscu traveled extensively and lived in the south of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

and

Saint-Tropez Saint-Tropez ( , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (department), Var departments of France, department and the regions of France, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It is west of Nice and east of Marseille, o ...

, 1908), in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

(1909), in Romania (in Vlaici,

Olt County Olt County () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (the regions are separated by the Olt River, Olt river). The capital city is Slatina, Roma ...

, 1913, and in Balcic,

Southern Dobruja Southern Dobruja or South Dobruja ( or simply , ; or , ), also the Quadrilateral (), is an area of north-eastern Bulgaria comprising Dobrich and Silistra provinces, part of the historical region of Dobruja. It has an area of 7,412 square km an ...

, 1919). He maintained permanent contacts with artists from other European cultures, visiting major art museums and extending his horizons to attempt new forms of artistic expression. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Dărăscu rarely painted interiors or

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

s. In 1917, along with the painters Camil Ressu,

Ștefan Dimitrescu Ștefan Dimitrescu (January 18, 1886 – May 22, 1933) was a Romanian Post-Impressionism, Post-impressionist painter and draftsman. Biography Born in Huşi, Huși into a modest family, he completed his primary and secondary studies in his ho ...

Iosif Iser Iosif Iser (21 May 1881 – 25 April 1958; born and died in Bucharest) was a Romanian painter and graphic artist. Born to a History of the Jews in Romania, Jewish family, he was initially inspired by Expressionism, creating drawings with thick, ...

, Marius Bunescu and the sculptors Dimitrie Paciurea, Cornel Medrea, Ion Jalea, and

Oscar Han Oscar Han (3 December 1891 – 14 February 1976) was a Romanian sculptor and writer. Biography Han was born in Bucharest on 3 December 1891 to a father of German origin and a mother from Vrancea. From 1909 to 1914, he studied sculpture and ...

, he founded the ''Arta Română'' association in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

. Aside from his artistic pursuits, Dărăscu was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest between 1936 and 1950. In 1940 and 1942, some of his paintings were exhibited at the Romanian pavilion for the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. In 1944, his workshop and some of his paintings were destroyed during the bombing of Bucharest by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

References

External links

Biography at artnet.com
* 1883 births 1959 deaths People from Giurgiu Romanian Impressionist painters Romanian watercolourists Bucharest National University of Arts alumni École des Beaux-Arts alumni Academic staff of the Bucharest National University of Arts {{Romania-painter-stub