May Day in Freedom 1958

Alexandru Ciucurencu made this painting, May Day in Freedom, most likely in oil. You can see how he’s built up the figures with fairly loose strokes, layering colour over colour. To me that’s what painting is about, a dance with the materials. Look at how he renders the crowd, all these different faces and bodies, all individual yet somehow merged. The reds of the flags really pop against the pale blue-grey of the crowd. Notice the figure on the horse, that the artist has painted it in thin washes of colour, with very visible brushstrokes. These are not perfect representations but it doesn’t matter. It’s kind of impressionistic, a vibe. It reminds me a little of French painters like Courbet, with a bit of Van Gogh thrown in. It’s like Ciucurencu takes the conversations these artists began and keeps them going, figuring out his own way to depict the world and how he sees it. For me it’s a piece that shows painting is always open to interpretation.