The exhibition 'RomanIA - the identity representation of the traditional blouse in art,' an event held under the High Patronage of the President of Romania and curated by the museum's interim manager Erwin Kessler, was opened on Thursday evening on the Ground Floor of the National Gallery of the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR).
'As you will see, this exhibition is about the good and the evil within us and about the beauty that those outside us have seen in this struggle between the good and the evil within us. It is true, it is a gem. There is no getting past that. We will enjoy, and you will all enjoy, the fact that we have extraordinary works by Grigorescu, that we have Aman, that we have Lucian, that all the jewels of our art are here. But ultimately you will see that the contemporaneous Gioconda is Matisse's La Blouse Roumaine'. And this is where we invite you at this moment,' said the interim director of the museum, art critic Erwin Kessler, at the opening.
He pointed out that the exhibition is a 'normal' one, created with 'entirely private' funds, and thanked the Amzei Foundation for its support, as well as the 'pleiad' of other sponsors and the Friends of the MNAR Association.
'I am deeply grateful to the Amzei Foundation for making it possible to bring to fruition, in an extraordinarily short time, less than five months, a project of dizzying scale that involved twenty five museums from the country and five museums from abroad, two from France, the Centre Pompidou and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, one from Bulgaria, the National Gallery in Sofia, and the most difficult one, which materialised this morning at 4:33, from Ukraine, from the Museum of Chernihiv. The fact that I have been able to make another exhibition including a work from Ukraine, I think, says everything about the struggle for normality. This exhibition is a normal exhibition, although in the current historical context, that is the economic privations of Romania and the geopolitical situation, it is completely abnormal,' Erwin Kessler said.
Kessler also showed that the exhibition brings together 'ugly parts' as well. 'We have ugly parts because we have ugly parts in our history,' the critic stressed.
Presidential adviser Diana Iancu presented the High Patronage Diploma of the President of Romania, Nicusor Dan, for the exhibition.
'On behalf of the President of Romania, I would like to salute this admirable celebration of the Romanian blouse, a symbolic garment in which the identity, sensitivity and creativity of this people have been woven. It has passed through time like a living testimony, showing that a society founded on solid values can carry its continuity as a light across generations. Tradition, that which binds ages and cultures, remains, even in times of unrest, a shared point of reference that offers us stability and meaning. The exhibition RomanIA' brings together heritage, art and international dialogue, proving that the past is not a burden but an endless source of inspiration for today's creation. It is a joy to see cultural institutions, artists and the public joining forces to celebrate the values that define us as a nation. I therefore congratulate you, director, for this exhibition and I am pleased to present you with the High Patronage Diploma of the President of Romania as a gesture of support for cultural institutions and Romanian artists,' the presidential adviser said.
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The exhibition 'RomanIA - the identity representation of the traditional blouse in art' is a vivid fresco of the artistic adventures of the ie [Romanian blouse, ed.n.], in various techniques ranging from painting and sculpture to graphics, photography, objects, installation, film, music, posters, fashion, stamps, playing cards, vases, banknotes, books, albums, cartoons and school textbooks.
According to the museum, the selection highlights the way in which, over centuries, a formal, symbolic, decorative and also ideological language has been shaped in which the ie and folk costume played the pivotal role of aggregation, political promotion and sometimes visual assertion of Romanian identity.
More than 320 pieces, from the museum's collection and from various national and international museums, private collections and contemporary artists, offer the public the richest material of reflection and visual delight on this subject ever presented in a museum.
To these creations are added works by Henri Matisse, including the famous painting La Blouse Roumaine', an iconic masterpiece of universal modernity, part of the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, a work leaving France for the first time and exceptionally loaned for this exhibition.
The curatorial team was made up of Judit Balint, Malina Contu, Alina Petrescu, Emanuela Cernea and Costina Anghel.
Organised in partnership with the Amzei Foundation, the exhibition 'RomanIA - the identity representation of the traditional blouse in art' will be open until 8 February 2026.
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