Landscape from Caransebes 1932

Corneliu Baba made this landscape of Caransebes using oil paint in a way that feels both immediate and deeply considered. The colors are muted, earthy – browns and greens and grays, all layered together. It’s less about depicting a specific place and more about capturing a feeling, a memory. Looking at the way Baba applied the paint, you can almost see him working, building up the forms with these thick, confident strokes. Take the roof of the tallest building, for instance. The paint is so thick there, so textural, that it almost becomes a physical object in itself. You can see how each brushstroke contributes to the overall form, creating this sense of depth and solidity. Baba reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, in the sense that he takes a familiar subject and turns it into something really special through the act of painting. And like Morandi, he invites us to slow down, to really look, and to find beauty in the everyday.