THE NATIONAL GALLERY can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00 (last entrance to the exhibition spaces: 16:30).
The National Gallery represents the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Art in Cluj-Napoca and it unfolds along 15 halls on the first floor of the building. At this time 138 paintings and 15 sculptures, selected from the museum’s patrimony, can be seen. Taking into account the specificities of the patrimony, the current arrangement suggests a chronological and stylistic evolution of the artworks, unfolding along five centuries of national fine arts (16th-20th centuries) with the emphasis being placed on Transylvanian art and an expressive prominence of the multiculturalism specific to the inner-Carpathian region.
The circuit itself starts with a collection of 18th-19th century Transylvanian orthodox icons displayed nest to the altarpiece of the Catholic Church of Jimbor, in Brașov County, made in late gothic style (the first half of the 16th century) with renaissance influences.
Throughout the gallery the evolution of Transylvanian art is emphasized starting with illustrative paintings for early art, especially that of portraits in the 18th-19th century, signed by Franz Neuhauser, Franz Anton Bergman or Mișu Popp and continuing with the expressionistic vision of Nagy István and Aurel Popp. The evolution of art in the region with accents of that configured in the artistic centre of Cluj is also represented by artists such as Elena Popea and Pericle Capidan.
Romanian artists, who through their activity have contributed to the constituting of a national representative art starting with the 19th century are illustrated through works signed by Theodor Aman, Nicolae Grigorescu (represented through the works bearing academic influence, as well as those which are the result of the contract with the Barbizon painters’ colony), Ion Andreescu, Ștefan Luchian (with one of the most beautiful national collections of his floral themed paintings).The Romanian art of the 20th century is represented through works signed by Nicolae Tonitza, Theodor Pallady, Nicolae Dărăscu, Gheorghe Petrașcu, Francisc Șirato, Camil Ressu, Dimitrie Paciurea, Corneliu Medrea, in a dynamic dialogue with their contemporary European art, through the thematic and astylistic options, as well as through contacts and relationships with some of its most known exponents.