Le poisson choa 2000

Nicolae Maniu painted "Le poisson choa," we don't know when, but it is a very contemporary take on the old master style, with some surreal touches. The painting has this incredible, almost luminous quality, like a Renaissance painting found under the sea. It's so smooth, it almost glows. The textures are so carefully built, look at how the light catches the dress and reflects off the water. Then, there are these strange shells and the koi, all perfectly still, like a dream you can’t quite place. Maniu's handling of light is so fascinating. It is as if he wants to trap it within the painting. It makes me think of Magritte, and his surreal juxtapositions. The image gives us an invitation to pause, breathe, and find some strange comfort in the uncanny.