The reflection of pieces from the Marius Matei Ethnographic Collection in the photographs of Ukrainian visual artist Anna Senik represents a mirror of the social dynamics of the contemporary village — a testament to the changing language of communication, the search for new forms of expression, and new contexts for presenting ethnographic heritage. This approach legitimizes the age and authenticity of traditional artifacts through recovery, reinvention, and identity expression via clothing codes.

Comprising over 3,500 items — from traditional costumes to jewelry, textiles, and vintage photographs — the Marius Matei Ethnographic Collection is a true portal into the past life of the Banat village. One of its defining characteristics is its remarkable dynamism. From major national museums to galleries and exhibition spaces in Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates, the displayed pieces have succeeded in fostering cultural dialogue and inspiration. They bring to the fore elements of heritage that oscillate between the decontextualization of the rural object and the symbolic re-editing of traditional garments, now globally recognized as carriers of intrinsic, aesthetic, and cultural value.

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.

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.

Exhibition architecture: Diana Nicolaie
Exhibition organized by Romania’s biggest art store, Dependent de Artă

Flowers. From Luchian to Câlția explores the timeless symbolism of flowers, from Luchian’s delicate grace to Câlția’s poetic universe. A symbolic bouquet of fleeting beauty awaits you!

Asked once what he thought of Ioan Andreescu, Nicolae Grigorescu replied: “Andreescu is the greatest artist the country has ever had, myself included. If he had lived, he would undoubtedly have become our great national artist.” (Radu Bogdan, Ion Andreescu, Meridiane Publishing House, 1961). Indeed, Andreescu had an exceptional sensibility and was undeniably the most profound of Romanian landscape painters. He died even before turning 33 years old, before his fame spread, as it later happened with Grigorescu. 

175 years after the birth of the great artist, Art Safari brings together for the public, in a tribute exhibition, some of Andreescu’s most important works, scattered in museums and private collections.

Curator: Maria Munteanu
Exhibition architecture: Cosmin Florea
Sound design: Călin Țopa
Partners: Bucharest City Hall, Bucharest City Museum, Brukenthal National Museum

60 years after the decisive 1965 exhibition at Dalles Hall, Art Safari, under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, undertakes a comprehensive review and perhaps a reassessment of the work of the giant of the beginnings of Romanian contemporary art, the “singular case” that was Ion Țuculescu.
Starting from Țuculescu’s double intellectual figure, as a doctor, researcher and rigorous scientist, but also as a self-taught artist, characterised by an incomparable experimental and humanistic fervour, the exhibition paints the portrait of a truly complete and complex personality of modern Romanian culture, presenting over 100 representative works from the country’s most important museums and private collections. Ion Țuculescu is the totemic figure of explosive creative power, of boundless freedom of expression and of unmistakable national spiritual authenticity.

Exhibition orchestrated by Cristian Vechiu with accompaniment by Erwin Kessler
Exhibition architecture: Cosmin Florea and aé02
Under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture
Partner: Brukenthal National Museum

The Forgotten Romanian Painters exhibition brings together over 100 paintings by dozens of artists who have made a significant contribution to the history of Romanian art, but whose names have been lost (or deliberately omitted) over time. The project aims to translate into an exhibition format (and continue) the scientific research of the book which was a major revelation at the time and was written by journalist, writer and art chronicler Tudor Octavian (the volume was published in 2003 by NOI Media Print under the title Pictori români uitați [Forgotten Romanian Painters]).

Exhibition presented by LIDL
Curators: Tudor Octavian, Maria Munteanu

The Young Blood 4.0 exhibition highlights an important feature of the young generation of contemporary artists: flexibility, applied to conceptual, as well as to material or expressive dimensions, which is a key point of visual language. The protagonists of this fundamental principle of today’s art generate complex narrative structures and conduct multidimensional experiments in the visual and decorative arts, aiming to discover and explore personal or universal truths through atypical, unconventional, undeniably authentic means and techniques.

Curator: Călina Coman

The photographic exhibition series continues with the presentation of two German-based artists whose unique visual languages interrogate the medium of photography in a highly personal way. Viktoria Binschtok (born 1972 in Moscow, currently living in Berlin) and Michael Schäfer (born 1964 in Sigmaringen, also living in Berlin) use and reflect on images in the media, exploring the different ways in which they function. Thus, their work can be seen as part of a tradition of artistic interest in the media that dates back to the 1970s.

Curator: Christin Müller
An exhibition organised by ifa in collaboration with Art Safari

Pharmacy as we know it today has a fascinating history marked by innovation, tradition and scientific discovery. From the cures of the Middle Ages to modern pharmacies, the exhibition “From Lab to Life” offers a broad perspective on the development of this field essential to everyday life.

Curator: Monica Dumitru
Exhibition architecture: Diana Nicolaie