Artwork
MOTIV FOLCLORIC – ȚĂRANCĂ CU TREI PĂSĂRI
MOTIV FOLCLORIC – ȚĂRANCĂ CU TREI PĂSĂRI is an unspecified painting by Micaela Eleutheriade. It dates from 1941 and is held in the collection of the National Museum of Art of Romania.
About this work
Overview
Micaela Eleutheriade’s painting Motiv Folcloric – Țărancă cu Trei Păsări, executed around 1941, depicts a rural woman in traditional costume standing amid a field. She is accompanied by three birds and set against a bright yellow backdrop that includes foliage and additional avian figures.
Subject & Meaning
The central figure is a young peasant woman with long blond hair, dressed in a white blouse, a red‑and‑blue skirt, and black shoes. Her posture and the presence of the birds suggest a connection to folk traditions, evoking themes of simplicity, nature, and rural life.
Technique & Style
Eleutheriade employs bold, flat areas of colour and simplified forms, characteristic of a naïve or folk‑art aesthetic. The composition relies on strong contrasts—bright yellows, reds, and blues—while the shapes remain elementary, reinforcing a sense of innocence and directness.
History & Provenance
Created circa 1941, the work belongs to the period when Eleutheriade explored Romanian folkloric motifs. Documentation of its ownership trail is limited, but it remains associated with the artist’s early output focused on national cultural themes.
Context
The painting reflects the broader interwar interest in folk culture that permeated Romanian visual arts. By portraying a traditional peasant woman, Eleutheriade aligns with contemporaneous efforts to valorise rural identity and heritage through accessible visual language.
Artist & collection
Artist
Micaela Eleutheriade (1900–1982) was a noted Romanian painter and engraver. She was a descendant, through her mother, of the painter Gheorghe Tattarescu, the pioneer of neoclassicism in Romania.
