THE ART COLLECTIONS MUSEUM

In June 2013, the Art Collections Museum was fully reopened to the public after extensive renovation of the building and after the restoration of important pieces of museum patrimony. Unique for the Romanian cultural landscape, the Art Collections Museum, hosted in an important historical building – the Romanit Palace – brings together donations made by generous collectors of undisputable merit in acquiring a rich and valuable cultural heritage.

The museum presents these collections as independent entities, endeavoring to recreate the original atmosphere and to familiarize the viewer with the personality and interests of each collector. The Romanit Palace, started in 1812, currently housing the Art Collections Museum, is a landmark for Bucharest’s early modern architecture. The museum brings to life the inter-war period when valuable collections came into being: those of Elena and Dr. Iosif N. Dona, Garabet Avachian, Alexandra and Barbu Slătineanu, Marcu Beza, Béatrice and Hrandt Avakian. Most of the collectors explicitly preferred wellestablished, classical local artists such as Theodor Aman, Nicolae Grigorescu, Ioan Andreescu and mature painters like Nicolae Tonitza, Gheorghe Petrașcu, Theodor Pallady, Lucian Grigorescu, Iosif Iser, Camil Ressu, Francisc Șirato.

The latters’ ranks were sometimes joined by then emerging artists such as Alexandru Ciucurencu and Dimitrie Ghiață.. Several collections have a distinctive profile: Simu focuses on Romanian and French art, Slătineanu on folk art, Béatrice and Hrandt Avakian on decorative and Oriental art, Marcu Beza on art from the Near East; other collections like Iosif Iser, Corneliu Baba, Lucia Demetriade Bălăcescu have a monographic character.