Romanian PM donates a month’s salary for famous Brancusi sculpture

Romania’s Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos decided to donate his whole salary for April within the fundraising campaign organized for the purchase of Constantin Brancusi’s famous sculpture Cumintenia Pamantului (Wisdom of the Earth). Ciolos had a net salary of RON 15,825 (EUR 3,550) in January this year, according to an official document published on the Government’s General Secretariat website. It is likely that his donation matches this sum. “The campaign for Brancusi’s Cumintenia Pamantului has begun. As for me, I’ve decided to donate my salary in April for this project. I also urge you to do as your conscience tells you, and according to your possibilities,” the Prime Minister wrote in a Facebook post. The online fundraising campaign for Constantin Brancusi’s sculpture officially started last week, under the slogan Brancusi e al meu (Brancusi is mine). The Romanian state has agreed to pay EUR 11 million for this sculpture and needs to raise EUR 6 million in donations until end-September. The rest of EUR 5 million will come from the Government. The Culture Ministry will announce the first results of the campaign on June 1, and then on the 1st and 15th of each month until the end of September. Cumintenia Pamantului is probably one of Constantin Brancusi’s most famous sculptures still on Romanian territory. Made in 1907, the sculpture is currently owned by the heirs of the architect George Romascu, who bought the artwork from Constantin Brancusi in 1911. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com