National Museum of Art — Attraction in Bucharest

This experience was so weird. Person selling the tickets was stone faced, no smile and basically hated that we were visiting the museum. I think we were scolded because we bought a museum ticket… Oh apparently the ticket is for 7 days, she didn’t tell us that.

Ground floor security woman in the first gallery was kind and smiley, however another security, she told us to speak quietly even tho we weren’t talking any louder than the other visitors and when I asked where the museum cafe is, she told me this is not a cafeteria its a museum. Miss, I’m a professional artist. I know how to visit museums. Every other museum I visited have their cafes for visitors to rest and drink water. You don’t have to make fun at a curious visitor. Also museums are where you learn, contemplate and share cultural and artistic values. I was talking no louder than others and we were talking about art that we were looking at. Are you for real?

I was visiting the next building, the first person who faced us again, someone with stone face, rude and treated us like we are less than humans. I began checking the art feeling unwelcome again, I then went back to the previous room to check the artwork I like, another security said, the exit is here walk here, I said I wanna look at this artwork again, she said, no the exit is here. Wth? I went back and check the art again because its a museum and I’m here to learn and admire art. Weirdly, the next security lady was so kind to me. When she saw me getting excited for a painting, she engaged and gave information happily and kindly. Clearly she likes her job.

Unfortunately most of the museum employees here have no museum culture/education. They need to learn

1. Hospitality: I’m a human and an art lover, please be kind towards me.
2. Knowledge: this is a museum. I come here to learn and admire art. Please don’t stop me from learning and admiring.
3. Communication: even though my question might sound ridiculous to you, please have the capability to respond kindly. There are better ways to convey your message. Please keep your kindness as I did towards...

I like the temporary exhibitions lately. It costs 20 RON. This summer the paintings of Nicolae Grigorescu (1838 - 1907) are displayed. He was the founder of the modern Romanian painting. Beside his paintings, he was also a beautiful man - as I was told and saw in some photos.

His portraits are all filled with melancholy (this is how I feel them), but in the eyes of his subjects there is also hope, life, innocence - marked by a little white dot in the irises of the girls he painted.

Most of the frames on his paintings were ordered by him from France. My paintings from home have similar frames, so they remind me a lot of childhood and peace.

The well known "Car cu 4 boi" aka "Car(ul) cu boi" was so much bigger than expected. I have a little copy at home which gave me the impression that the original shouldn't be much bigger.

Nicolae Grigorescu had a white ox called Ghiocel - meaning Snowdrop. He did a lot of sketches and paintings with him, but these are back to the memorial museum in Câmpina.

There are some photos (ex. Iosif Berman's) from that time and also costumes and traditional items from his period which also displayed the rural life of Romania in the passage between the XIXth century and the XXth.

Why do I give 4 stars: because on some paintings the lights above make a shadow on them. No postcards with his paintings - in general, few postcards at the entrance.

Nicolae Grigorescu's paintings left me with at least two things that come to me off the top of my head: the more grounded understanding of the progress all people made in a 100 years I feel like what he painted is true and corresponds with what I see in people: a kind of beauty that will never fade away. It reminds me at the same time of Nicolae Steinhardt's translation of Baudelaire's words: "Frumusețea nu este altceva decât făgăduința fericirii" - "Beauty is nothing but the promise...

You need to buy a ticket to get into this museum which is split into two parts: the left wing of the wide building is populated with Medieval-Renaissance European art; highlights include a couple of Monets and a replica of Rodin's The Kiss. In the right wing is the national collection of Romanian art. Get your ticket from the left side first. It's a slightly discounted 25 leu for both galleries otherwise it's 15 leu for each wing.

There is a conveyor system to follow as the layout encourages you to follow a fairly fixed path. Go straight up the grand stairs in the European wing and remember to look up at the architecture as the building itself can be quite grand in places. You may also notice a number of seismographs in the corners of rooms. The toilet facilities definitely need an upgrade - small, sparse and low tech hand drying facilities.

There are English and French captions available alongside the Romanian for most pieces of art. The only thing is it's difficult to get an idea of how old some of the archaeological pieces are in the Romanian collection as no date is given which is a shame as it could really give context to these bits.

There's enough to see to easily spend a couple of hours at this venue, but I wouldn't advise longer. The top floor of the Romanian collection is where the ticket price is really worthwhile as the bleak darkness of the other sections is compensated by bright works of modern art - it gives a sense of optimism in Romania's 19th and early 20th century pre-Communist history.

Overall recommended if you're curious about Romania's art talent, particularly in the...