Nicolae Grigorescu, one of the greatest Romanian painters and a leading figure of 19th-century European art, was born on May 15, 1838, in the village of Pitaru, Dâmbovița county. He came from a modest family: his father, Ion Grigorescu, was a notary, and his mother, Ruxandra, a seamstress. Little Nicu was the sixth child of the family and knew hardship from an early age.

The difficult childhood of the great Nicolae Grigorescu

Tragedy struck at just seven years old, when he was left fatherless. Without support, the family moved to Bucharest, to the Cărămidarilor neighborhood, where they lived in the house of an aunt. Life in the Bucharest slum was full of deprivation, but for young Nicolae this simple world became the source of his first inspirations and the place where he discovered his vocation.

From childhood, Grigorescu was drawn to drawing and color. He became an apprentice to various church painters, among them Naie Pantelimonescu, and later entered the workshop of Czech painter Anton Chladek, a renowned portraitist and miniaturist. Under his guidance, he learned to paint small icons and to respect the discipline of drawing. By the age of 12, he was already selling his first works at fairs, helping to support his family.

The boy who painted icons went on to create monumental frescoes

His talent became increasingly evident. At 15, Nicolae Grigorescu was painting icons for the church in Băicoi and for Căldărușani Monastery. These works, surprisingly mature for his age, attracted the attention of the artistic community.

In 1856, he produced an ambitious work, Michael the Brave Rescuing the Standard, which he presented to Prince Barbu Știrbei. The audacity of the gesture and the quality of the composition earned him 100 gold coins and a recommendation for educational support. Still, the Romanian state did not fully sponsor him, and young Grigorescu forged his own path.

In the following years, he painted the entire church of Zamfira Monastery. The frescoes, icons, and processional banners demonstrated both technical precision and rare artistic sensitivity. The payment he received – around 500 gold coins – led him to abandon his studies at Saint Sava College and to devote himself entirely to painting.

In 1857 he entered a competition for a scholarship in Italy but lost to Constantin I. Stăncescu, better connected within the system. Rather than give up, he accepted the commission to paint Agapia Monastery, where he blended neoclassical elements into a Byzantine atmosphere. There he even founded a small school for nuns, proof of his pedagogical openness. The visit of Mihail Kogălniceanu to Agapia would change his destiny: impressed by the young artist, the minister helped him secure a scholarship to France by indirect but effective means.

Experience in Paris and the Barbizon School

In 1861, Nicolae Grigorescu left for Paris and became a student at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied under Sébastien Cornu. Among his colleagues was Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the future impressionist. The young Romanian often visited the Louvre, where he copied great masterpieces and absorbed centuries of accumulated art.

Soon, fascinated by landscape painting, Grigorescu gravitated toward the Barbizon School, where Jean-François Millet and Théodore Rousseau were transforming perceptions of nature painting. In the village of Barbizon, Grigorescu worked in the open air and developed a luminous and expressive palette.

From this period date some of his most beautiful works: Autumn at Fontainebleau, Sunset at Barbizon, Courtyard Interior, or Landscape with Flock of Sheep. In 1867 he took part in the Paris Universal Exposition, and the following year he exhibited at the official Salon with the celebrated Young Gypsy Girl.

Return to the country and war paintings

Returning periodically to Romania, Grigorescu exhibited at the “Society of the Friends of the Fine Arts.” But the year 1877 brought him a new mission: that of war painter in the War of Independence.

Alongside the Romanian army, he documented the battles of Grivița and Rahova. In his sketches and canvases, he captured the drama and energy of the moment. He succeeded in transforming the brutal scenes of war into compositions of both historical and artistic value, offering contemporaries and descendants a unique testimony.

Chronicler of the Romanian rural world

After the war, Nicolae Grigorescu devoted himself to the theme that would define his entire maturity: the Romanian village. He settled in Câmpina, where he painted landscapes, portraits of peasant women, ox-cart scenes, and images of daily life.

Paintings such as Peasant Women, Ox Cart, or Return from the Fair capture not only the visual beauty of the village but also the soul of the community. Return from the Fair, left unfinished on his easel at the moment of his death, became the symbol of his eternal bond with rural life.

He exhibited regularly at the Romanian Athenaeum and, in 1899, was elected an honorary member of the Romanian Academy, the highest recognition of his value.

Legacy and posthumous recognition

Nicolae Grigorescu died on July 21, 1907, in his home in Câmpina, which was later transformed into the Nicolae Grigorescu Memorial Museum. Although a fire during World War I destroyed part of the collection, his son Gheorghe managed to reconstruct the interior with the help of photographs and salvaged objects.

Today, the museum allows visitors to step into the artist’s intimate universe and discover sketches, letters, and authentic paintings.

Grigorescu’s works are not only cultural landmarks but also financial benchmarks. In 2016, he became the best-selling Romanian painter, with works auctioned for more than €465,000.

The record was set by Peasant Women (At the Fountain), sold for €320,000. In 2017, his position as market leader was reconfirmed, with 18 works sold and total revenues exceeding €726,000.

Among his masterpieces with great impact on the art market are Breton Woman at Brolle and Ox Cart, each an essential piece of the national cultural heritage.

The artist who “painted” the Romanian soul

Nicolae Grigorescu was more than a talented painter: he was a visual chronicler of 19th-century Romania. From the humble icons sold at fairs to monastery frescoes, from the Barbizon landscapes to war scenes, and to the universe of the Romanian village, Grigorescu turned reality into pictorial poetry.

He captured the beauty of the simple world, painted with delicacy the faces of peasant women, and gave visual identity to a nation in the making. Through his work, Romania entered into dialogue with the great European currents while preserving its national specificity.

Nicolae Grigorescu’s legacy is today a cultural treasure and an essential landmark of collective consciousness. The story of the orphan from the Cărămidarilor neighborhood who sold icons at the fair, and who went on to exhibit in Paris and be celebrated across Europe, remains one of the most beautiful chapters in the history of Romanian art.