Solid Identity

The idea for this painting came about when I was doing my university thesis on the history of the Village Museum "Dimitrie Gusti" in Romania.

The Museum was born in the interwar period to show the Romanian people the strength of the national Identity based on the peasant and village which is represented by the two houses painted on the surface. During the years, the museum has seen very dark periods, when everything was against its existence, such as the construction of the new palace for Queen Elizabeth, the Second World War, the refugees from Bessarabia who were housed in the houses of the museum, the rise of communism and some fires.

Despite all these adversities, represented by the crows, top left, this museum has continued to live on in different forms and this has shown how solid the roots of the Romanian nation are. The roots are underwater because they are not visible from the outside. The Romanian people are portrayed by the fish under the rock, while the oak is a tree that lives a long time and demonstrates the longevity of the museum.

The theme of water picks up on the recurring theme of what can be seen on the surface and what is hidden under the water, in this particular case, the museum is located near a lake.