The 1-Million-Euro Exhibition

In an exceptional artistic endeavor, Dependent de Artă – the largest and most important art store in Romania, located at the Cesianu-Racoviță Palace – presents to the Art Safari public a selection of rarely exhibited paintings from prestigious private collections.

Exhibition design: Diana Nicolaie

Suggestively titled The €1,000,000 Exhibition, the event brings together heritage works and creations by the most valuable Romanian painters of the last century: Nicolae Tonitza, Ștefan Luchian, Theodor Pallady, Alexandru Ciucurencu, Iosif Iser, Nicolae Dărăscu, Dumitru Ghiață, Max Hermann Maxy, Emil Volkers, Francisc Șirato, Ștefan Dimitrescu, and Adrian Ghenie.

Among the paintings featured in this selection is A Girl Indoors (1926-1928) by Nicolae Tonitza. The artist’s portraits of children have been widely discussed by art critics and are unanimously regarded as “the pinnacle of his humanist expressiveness.” It is believed that this work might depict one of his daughters.

The exhibition also includes a painting by Ștefan Luchian, known both as “the painter-poet of flowers” and as “a virtuoso of portraiture.” His work titled Spring (Two Muses) was created between 1897 and 1899 and represents a variation of a decorative painting the artist produced for the residence of Victor Antonescu, the Director of the National Bank of Romania at the time.

On display are also two paintings by Theodor Pallady: Still Life with Sunflowers, Inkwell, and Glasses, created in the 1930s, and Nude on the Sofa, from a renowned private collection – that of banker Gheorghe Răut, a close friend of the artist. Răut also contributed to the founding of the collection of the museum that bears Pallady’s name and is housed in the Melik House in Bucharest.

Adrian Ghenie is also featured in The €1,000,000 Exhibition organized by Dependent de Artă, with an early painting titled Nova, created between 2003 and 2004. At just 47 years old, Ghenie is considered one of the most valuable Romanian artists of all time, thanks to the record-breaking sums his works are traded on the international art market.

The presence of these artists in the exhibition is no coincidence – they are fundamental landmarks in the development of the Romanian art market. Through their artistic and symbolic value, as well as the frequency with which their works are acquired, auctioned, and sought after, they have played a decisive role in establishing evaluation standards, shaping the tastes of art collectors, and professionalizing the mechanisms of art trading. Around these names, collections have been built, pages of cultural history have been written, and art market records have been set.

We invite you to step into the world of collectible Romanian painting and discover how art becomes an unforgettable spectacle, accessible to everyone!