Central Romania: Tapestry loaned by Vatican for Camilian Demetrescu exhibition in Sibiu

The Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu, central Romania, will host the “Camilian Demetrescu. Return/Ritorno” exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth at the end of June. The event will feature a tapestry from the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, a rare loan made possible by the Vatican's agreement.

Several sculptures, paintings, drawings, documents, and tapestries will be admired in the exhibition, one of which is brought from the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, where several works signed by Camilian Demetrescu are displayed in the audience and diplomatic meeting room of the Pope.

"This is a return of an important artist who was born in Romania and worked in Italy. With extraordinary work, Camilian Demetrescu is one of the most interesting artists. With the agreement of the Vatican, we have a superb tapestry from the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, where His Holiness the Pope receives visitors, on loan. The family also expressed their joy that a work of the artist will be donated and remain in our museum's collection," said the manager of the Brukenthal National Museum, Alexandru Chituță.

The exhibition is organized by the Brukenthal National Museum in partnership with Civita Mostre E Musei S.P.A. from the Italian Parliament, the Romanian Embassy in Italy, and the Demetrescu family.

The artist was born in Romania in 1924, where he worked as a writer and art historian in the press and on state radio and television. He left Romania in 1969, seeking political asylum in Italy. He then created abstract art for ten years, trying to heal from "socialist realism."

Camilian Demetrescu then converted from abstractionism to sacred symbolic art. The return to symbolism began in 1977 while restoring, together with his family, a 12th-century Romanesque church ("Saints Philip and James") in Gallese, which later became a historic monument. The place profoundly marked him, changing his life and art. He reconnected with Christianity. Two years later, in Paris, he met Mircea Eliade and abandoned abstract art altogether, taking a path towards spiritual art.

Demetrescu organized exhibitions in almost all major cities in Italy, as well as in France. His works are present in several churches. In 1986 he was invited by the Pontifical Commission for Art in the Vatican, along with 33 European artists, to illustrate the Divine Comedy.

After the 1989 Revolution, he founded the "Pro Romania Committee" in Italy, through which he organized aid shipments and published two editions of the Bible translated by Gala Galaction, which he distributed in the country. He gave lectures at the Sighet School and the Faculty of Architecture in Bucharest.

Demetrescu is considered by the great art critic Giulio Carlo Argan to be the fifth great name in Italian art. The artist passed away in Gallese on May 6, 2012.