Two historians accuse the institution of displaying fakes at the exhibition dedicated to the surrealist artist Victor Brauner at the National Art Museum. The works would even belong to the family of the former prime minister, Adrian Năstase. The President of the Association of Art Experts and Appraisers from Romania also notified the Ministry of Culture about this situation. On the other hand, the representatives of the museum claim that the paintings have authentications of recognized experts.
Art historian Adrian Buga says that the works that are part of the collections of former prime minister Adrian Năstase and his sons, Andrei and Mihnea Năstase, are known to have major authenticity problems, and recommends an urgent counter-expertise carried out by international experts on Brauner’s work.
A day ago, the art historian Pavel Şușara also accused that in three exhibitions at the National Art Museum – one of them being dedicated to Victor Brauner – “falsifications bordering on the ridiculous” were included.
Adrian Buga posted, on Facebook, a message entitled “Public protest”, in which he refers to the exhibition “Victor Brauner. Between dreamlike and occult” which is currently taking place at the National Art Museum of Romania, a project designed and coordinated by Călin-Alexiu Stegerean (curator of the exhibition and General Director of MNAR), through a production carried out by the National Art Museum of Romania.
He says that in this exhibition, quite well argued visually, works of art, books, photographs and films were brought from various Romanian and foreign museums, as well as from private collections: paintings and graphics from the National Art Museum of Romania, Musée national d’art moderne – Center Pompidou, Musée d’Art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Etienne Métropole, Musée d’Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg, Museum of Visual Art Galaţi, Museum of the Land of Crișurilor Oradea. Private collections: Octavian Brândeu, Anca Vlad, Gheorghe Burtea, Cristinel Popa, Jean-Michel Runacher, Béatrix and Christian Derveloy, Damian Florea, Adrian Năstase, Andrei Năstase, Mihnea Năstase.
“The most serious situation, as I am ready to publicly protest, is related to the serious authenticity problems of some works of art that are part of the Brauner exhibition. The works that are part of the collections: Adrian Năstase, Andrei Năstase, Mihnea Năstase are known as works with great authenticity problems. I recommend that the MNAR museum urgently carry out a counter-expertise carried out by international experts in Brauner’s work, which will confirm or deny the accusations related to the authenticity issues of the works in the collections: Adrian Năstase, Andrei Năstase, Mihnea Năstase. I have always fought against the sale of fake art objects, I have devoted my time, professional activity and experience to discovering only original works, and an original work, unlike a fake one, has an effect of uplifting the spirit of the viewer and helps the national culture immeasurably , and in the case of Brauner – international. The truth of the Romanian artistic and cultural society must be told only through original works, and the fake is equal to the lie in our society, it is equal to everything that is harmful, carcinogenic.
If the requested expertise is not made public and a counter-expertise of the mentioned works is not allowed, and these works will be reproduced in the future catalog of the Brauner exhibition, I will have to publicly protest in front of the museum and in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture”, said Adrian Buga.
Unbelievable!