Towards Lipscani 1921

Nicolae Darascu painted this view, Towards Lipscani, with watercolors. The buildings in the foreground are these sun-drenched, browny-beige hues, the colors of a city. The way they gradually fade into the background, with the details dissolving in a haze of light, it’s as if the whole scene is remembering itself. I know that feeling, like my memory of New York. I imagine Darascu standing there, brush in hand, feeling the weight of the paper and the lightness of the water. There’s a dance between control and chance, isn't there? A give and take as the colors mix and mingle on the page. The surface is alive, like skin! There is a conversation between one artist and another. Darascu’s colors remind me of Corot's landscapes, or maybe even Turner’s misty atmospheres. Painting is about exchange and influence. It’s about what comes before us, but most of all it’s what we see!