"The Art collection of a former Romanian orphan"
By Bogdan Munteanu
"Abandoned in an orphanage in Bucharest, adopted by a rich Italian family, having Silvio Berlusconi as his godfather, he is a 34-year-old entrepreneur who is proud to declare himself Romanian. He picks young artists “with very special styles and skills,” hoping to discover the next Picasso or Modigliani. All the while, he wants to prove that every work of art is an invitation to mankind:
“By the creation, see the Creator.”
“By the creation, see the Creator.”
Three decades since the fall of Communism in Romania, gruesome images still haunt the country: thosands of abandoned children, caged in rusty beds, starving, crying and ceaselessly rocking their frail bodies. He could have been one of these orphans, but God – Whom he invokes every 2-3 phrases – had a different plan for him.
Little Nicolae (named so in honour of “the most beloved son of the people,” Nicolae Ceauşescu) would eventually grow between Sicily and Southern France, in a wealthy family whose history dates back to the Renaissance. The illustrious ancestors of his adoptive parents were helping Michelangelo paint the Sixtine Chapel and gave seven Popes to the Vatican.
Today, the ‘Romanian orphan’ represents a link between their heritage and his native country that he can’t help loving. He does this through a company founded in 2004 that buys contemporary artists, encourages them while they are unknown, then sells their works for much higher prices. His business is done most often in secrecy.
“I am an orphan and I will remain one. I know that, as an orphan, I am nothing, therefore I can become anything,” says the man who is a wealthy art patron and merchant, amateur painter, author of two books and even… theologian, as he is currently enrolled in a Catholic seminary. In The Art of Living’s Summer Issue 2015, he will reveal his name, his bewildering life history, his art creeds and future plans – including the one of opening a museum in Bucharest.
But before that, he wants art lovers around the world to pay attention to some great artists whom could he is certain will be worldwide famous one day: French paintress Séverine Deslions, Belgian painter Melvyn Barros, Romanian sculptor Răzvan Mihăescu, French writer Myriam Le Corre, French paintress Ruthy Février, Romanian photographer Albert Takacs and French paintress Chris Foglia."
http://www.theartofliving.info/en/home
http://www.theartofliving.info/en/home
