The Gallery hosts Romania’s premier collection of European art. In time, the Picture Gallery of King Carol I was complemented with works from various the Ioan and Dr. Nicolae Kalinderu, Toma Stelian, Anastasie Simu, and Al. Saint-Georges collections alongside paintings from the Bucharest Municipal Picture Gallery. After 1950 the collection continued to grow through donations and acquisitions.

The exhibition was curated by a team from MNAR, including
Dr. Călin-Alexiu Stegerean, general director and coordinating curator,
Alina Petrescu, head of the Modern Romanian Art section,
Miruna Moraru, curator, and Monica Croitoru-Tonciu, curator.

The museum brings centre stage a core selection of paintings by Theodor Pallady. Together with over 800 prints and drawings from the artist’s Parisian years, these are part of the Serafina and Gheorghe Răut collection, donated to the Romanian state at the end of the 1960s. The collection also comprises French, Dutch, English and Spanish paintings, European furniture and sculpture and a host of various objets d’art which speak eloquently about the manner in which Romanian inter-war intellectuals tried to emulate general trends.