Towards Lipscani 1921

Nicolae Darascu made 'Towards Lipscani' with watercolor, and it’s all about the flow. The washes of color suggest more than they define, which, to me, is where the magic happens. It’s like Darascu is saying, "Here’s the feeling, now you fill in the details." I love the way the light seems to hover over the street, it's all muted browns and grays, but it still feels warm. There is one dark mark, a figure almost center-frame but slightly to the right, that anchors the whole thing. It gives your eye a place to rest, a little jolt amidst all the soft edges. It reminds me of some of Bonnard's street scenes, but with a Romanian twist. And isn’t that what art is all about? Taking what came before and making it your own, blending clarity with ambiguity, inviting us to see the world in a slightly different way.