Theodor Aman

b. 1831 — d. 1891

Theodor Aman was one of the most important Romanian painters of the XIXth century. His works blend Romanticism and Academicism, as well as bearing characteristics of early/Pre-Impressionism. He took drawing lessons with the painter Constantin Lecca, at Central School in Craiova, and in 1850 he leaves for Paris. Here, he studies painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, under the supervision of Michel Martin Drolling and François Edouard Picot. He returns to Romania in 1857, already established as a painter. His workshop becomes one of the most popular meeting places of high society, „the only artistic center of Bucharest's elite of that time“. His contribution to Romanian art transcends his work, by his important contribution to the establishment of the first Fine Arts School in Bucharest (1864), where he was both the first teacher and the director. The thematics approached by Theodor Aman in his works - historical painting, gender and Oriental scenes, scenery, still nature - are distinctly represented in the exhibition, through works of important heritage value. The techniques employed by Theodor Aman range from easel painting, engraving and drawing. Moreover, his works range from large scale painting (particularly heroic representations of the past and historical portraits) and small scale works (contemporary or daily life projects).