“Look at them, until you see them”. The Brâncuși Exhibition in Timișoara, 30.09.2023–28.01.2024

Abstract

Following the success of the Victor Brauner exhibition, which attracted 26,000 visitors in the spring of 2023, the National Art Museum of Timișoara prepared for another grand event last fall: the Brâncuși: Romanian Sources and Universal Perspectives exhibition, which opened on September 30. Its success surpassed all expectations. By the end of the year, the number of online-purchased tickets reached 100,000 and yet there was a continuous queue in front of the museum, as people from all parts of the country and even from abroad hoped to encounter Brâncuși’s creations without having pre-purchased tickets. The exhibition created through the collaboration of the National Art Museum of Timișoara, the Art Encounters Foundation, and the French Institute in Romania, with financial support from the Timiș County Council was undoubtedly the most successful event of the Timișoara 2023 European Capital of Culture. If you were to ask why… Among the main reasons was undeniably the pulling force of the name itself: alongside George Enescu, Brâncuși is internationally recognized as the most acclaimed Romanian artist. Another factor was the effective marketing campaign, emphasizing that this was Brâncuși’s most comprehensive exhibition in Romania in the last 50 years, displaying 100 artworks from major European collections (e.g. Centre Pompidou - Paris, Tate - London, Guggenheim Foundation - Venice).