Figures from Romanian Culture

This section should be a large and endless one!

...oh boy, I just hope you won't find this to be too dense!!!

Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957)

Romanian sculptor whose works defined modern concepts of form in sculpture, painting and industrial design. His masterpieces include: the Infinite Column (Coloana Infinitului), the Kiss Gate (Poarta Sarutului) and the Table of Silence (Masa Tacerii). All of them can be visited in Targu Jiu (aprox. 350 km from Bucharest)

Sergiu Celibidache (1912-1996)

He was the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic (1945-1952), Stockholm Radio Orchestra (1962-1972), Stuttgart Orchestra (1972-1977) and the Munich Philharmonic between 1979 and 1996.

Emil Cioran (1911-1995)

One of the most famous writers and philosophers of the last century.
Settled in Paris from 1937, he wrote his most important works in French:
On the edge of the despair, Tears and Saints and Exercices d’admiration (Admiration Exercices).

Mircea Eliade (1907-1986)

Writer and philosopher who imposed himself as an encyclopaedic spirit always seeking the true nature of the individual. At the age 21, he started out for India, where he studied Sanskrit, yoga and Indian philosophy . His phD was entitled: “Yoga: an essay on the origins of the Indian mysticism”, the first exhaustive study on yoga written by a Westerner.

Eugen Ionesco (1912-1994)
Father of the theatre of the absurd, a true innovator of dramatic techniques. His works render his vision on the individual’s struggle to survive in a society that isolates and alienates people. Some of his famous works are: The Lesson, The Chairs and The Rhinoceros.

Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950)

Musician whom French composer Francis Poulenc called “an artist with a divine spirituality”. Known as a pianist of genius on an international scale, Lipatti earned the appreciation of the famous French pianist and conductor Alfred Cortot, who, in protest, resigned from the jury of an international competition that awarded Lipatti only second place.

Henri Coanda (1886-1972)
The Bucharest-born inventor of the jet plane. On the December 14th, 1910 he performed the first jet propelled flight in the world, with a plane he himself built, powered by a jet propulsion motor.

In 1934 he discovered the effect universally known today as “Coanda effect”, with practical applications in different areas.

George Enescu (1881-1955)
Composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and pedagogue, one of the most prominent musicians at the end of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. Enescu brought professional music to the level of universal musical values. Above you may listen his ROMANIAN RHAPSODY under Sergiu Celibidache's conduct.

Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889)
He is probably the best-known Romanian poet. Nicolae Iorga, the famous Romanian historian, considers Eminescu the godfather of the modern Romanian language. He is unanimously celebrated as the greatest and most representative Romanian poet.
His poems span a large range of themes, from nature and love to history and social commentary. His carefree early years were evoked in his later poetry with deep nostalgia.
Eminescu's work has been translated in over 60 languages. Famous poems include Luceafãrul (Morning star), Mai am un singur dor (The Boon that I Still Crave), Glossa, and the 5 Scrisori (Epistles).

- Difficult to translate due to his unique rhyme, rhythm and melody of the verses! -

Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907)
Romanian painter. Grigorescu's painting art, diverse as it was, from that of a young mural painter to that of an Impressionistic School cognizer, was always on the acme and reverberated in the 20th century, long after his death. Father of modern Romanian painting, with Andreescu and Luchian as successors, Grigorescu was the great master worshipped by new generations of artists, who, early this century, were striving to reveal the profound wealth of the Romanian soul.