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First National Visual Art Salon by the Association of Visual Artists of Bucharest

The Association of Visual Artists of Bucharest opened the exhibition for its first National Visual Art Salon on Friday, July 3, 2026. The event took place in the Constantin Brâncuși Hall inside the Palace of Parliament.

This first edition included a competition with three sections: sculpture, graphic art and mixed technique, and painting. Artists submitted over 200 works from across the country. The jury and the association's Executive Committee awarded 19 prizes in total: three for each section, plus 8 special prizes. Two of these special prizes came from the two jury members, and one grand prize closed the list.

The opening night combined an award ceremony for the winners with two artistic performances by Adora Tănase, a contestant from Romania's Got Talent. She surprised the audience with a performance pushing her body to its limits, keeping grace and precision in movements shifting between dance and contortion. The audience praised the whole event. Award-winning artists enjoyed the recognition and talked with attendees about their exhibited works

Given the high number of submitted works, their range created challenges on several levels, both for the jury and for hanging the works in the hall, since artists worked with free themes and materials. The Jury President, professor Luigi Bambulea, a lecturer at UNARTE, praised the final result. In his speech, he pointed out the unique nature of this first edition and highlighted several details he found relevant to the event. His main point centered on art and culture learning from their past and innovating through respect for tradition, alongside creativity, practice, talent and persistence.

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Grand Prize: Ciprian Mihăilescu

WIN for ART: Your work shows the female nude in a realistic style, seen from the side, but this blue "stain" draws our eyes and pushes them across the surface. What is the concept behind this composition? Does a recurring theme or study sit behind it?

Ciprian Mihăilescu: In this work, I wanted the viewer's gaze to move past the body alone. I believe the face's expression builds the first emotional connection, and the blue intervention then invites the eye toward a second layer of reading.

Often, the background of a nude stays a simple backdrop. In some works, I use images inspired by scenery seen from a different angle: aerial views of terrain, cities, sometimes maps. For this painting, I started from an aerial image of a sea area and stylized it until only a color suggestion remained in places. I looked for a way to highlight more than the body. So I layered the sea scenery over the anatomy, and blue became a metaphor for the sea's depth, and also for depth of thought, introspection and melancholy. This way, the scenery's lines merge with the body and turn into a single form, like the marks time and life experience leave on each of us.

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Ciprian Mihăilescu - Nude in blue

Best Painting: Gheorghe Miron

WIN for ART: The angel you painted carries a strong mythological weight, his wings hold grace but also heaviness. We also noticed the drapery he sits on, which seems to lose its color. Does this loss of color point to a threat facing the angel too? What is his story?

Gheorghe Miron: For me, honestly, no subject beats the female nude for a painter! When I found this model, since the moment she walked into my studio I thought an angel had arrived, I decided to capture through my work her youth and fragility, in one word, beauty. I asked her to pose for this piece, which I painted for myself! And as I got to know her, I felt the sadness inside her! Then this idea of an angel full of meaning, but carrying great weight in feeling, took root! Then the stone wings appeared, along with the half-living drapery, and the lower part, almost turned to stone!

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Gheorghe Miron - The Angel

Best Graphic Art: Elena Sofia Bobei

WIN for ART: Florence stands as a city inseparable from its artistic history and the works it holds. An ode to Florence, then, sets a real challenge, and your graphic work brings together many defining architectural elements of the city, centered around the face of a girl dressed in period clothing, her gaze marking the center of the work and holding us, provocative, in the middle of the collage. Who is this girl, and what role does she play in the composition?â

Elena Sofia Bobei: The central figure in my composition stands for the spirit of Florence itself, a melancholic personification of this dream city I always wanted to explore. I see the female body as an embodiment of beauty, so I chose this romantic portrait, with delicate features and a high, lace collar, to bring out Florentine beauty and romance. She ties together the many elements, symbols and traits defining the city. This work belongs to a series of compositions showing different European cities, where, like here, I blend representative architectural details with the human figure.

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Elena Sofia Bobei - Florence

Best Sculpture: Lucian Ilie Jitariuc

WIN for ART: In popular zodiac culture, Aquarius often connects to a dreaming, pioneering spirit, one carrying plans toward completion. Your carved marble inspires a similar feeling: from a hard, solid material, you shaped a fluid, flowing form, proof. Work and talent change even matter itself. What thoughts stayed with you while you created this work?

Lucian Ilie Jitariuc: The sculpture named "Aquarius" opens a series of sculptures dedicated to the zodiac signs, part of a project I work on, where each zodiac sign turns into a marble work.

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Lucian Ilie Jitariuc - Aquarius