Artwork
PARADISUL
PARADISUL is an unspecified painting by Micaela Eleutheriade. It dates from 1941 and is held in the collection of the National Museum of Art of Romania.
About this work
Overview
PARADISUL, executed around 1941 by Micaela Eleutheriade, presents a fantastical garden scene rendered in a vivid, dreamlike manner. The composition centers on a tree laden with red fruit, a serpentine creature coiled around its trunk, and a pair of rounded figures interacting with the natural elements. The work combines human, animal, and ethereal presences within a single, lush environment.
Subject & Meaning
The painting juxtaposes ordinary garden activity—one figure reaching for an apple—with symbolic motifs such as a brightly colored snake and floating, winged silhouettes. The inclusion of diverse fauna, from giraffe to sheep, alongside celestial beings suggests a synthesis of earthly abundance and spiritual transcendence, inviting contemplation of humanity’s place within a harmonious, yet complex, natural order.
Technique & Style
Eleutheriade employs a richly textured surface, reminiscent of impasto, to give the foliage and fruit a tactile presence.
Eleutheriade employs a richly textured surface, reminiscent of impasto, to give the foliage and fruit a tactile presence. The palette contrasts saturated reds and greens, while the simplified, rounded forms of the human figures provide a calm counterpoint to the energetic, serpentine line of the snake. This blend of flat decorative elements with thick paint application creates a layered visual rhythm.
History & Provenance
Created during the early 1940s, PARADISUL reflects the artist’s engagement with surreal and symbolic imagery prevalent in that era. The work’s provenance traces back to the artist’s personal collection before entering public exhibition, though specific ownership details remain limited in the record.
Context
The early 1940s saw a surge of interest in dreamlike, allegorical compositions across European art circles, often as a response to the turbulence of the period. Eleutheriade’s garden tableau aligns with this trend, merging mythic symbolism—such as the snake and haloed figures—with a personal, imaginative vision of an idyllic, yet enigmatic, paradise.
Artist & collection
Artist
Micaela Eleutheriade (1900–1982) was a noted Romanian painter and engraver. She was a descendant, through her mother, of the painter Gheorghe Tattarescu, the pioneer of neoclassicism in Romania.
Paradies (Im Hintergrund: Der Sündenfall)
The Fall of Man
The Garden of Eden
The Fall of Man with Scenes of the Creation
The Fall of Man with Scenes of the Creation
The Temptation
The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise
Paradise
Peaceable Kingdom
Adam and Eve in Paradise
The paradise
Adam and Eve