Mihai Grecu (also written Mihail Grecu in Romanian and Soviet sources; 1916-1998) was a painter born in Bessarabia, then part of the Russian Empire and today divided between Moldova and Ukraine. He is considered the founder of Bessarabian modernism in painting and one of the driving forces behind the National School of Painting in Moldova, alongside Mihai Petric and Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu. His work renewed art in the Republic of Moldova and across the former Soviet space while remaining rooted in local tradition.
He studied in Cetatea Albă and, from 1937 to 1940, under Francisc Șirato at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest. He later continued in Chișinău, where he produced his first known work, Maternitate, in 1943 during his evacuation to Uralsk. His output is usually divided into three phases: in the 1950s he mastered drawing and composition; from 1960 to 1975 he experimented with decorative colour, which officials criticised as formalist; and from 1975 he turned to collage, varnishes and industrial pigments.
Among his major works are Fetele din Ceadâr-Lunga, Recruții and the triptych Istoria unei vieți, which are counted among the golden fund of Moldovan painting. His work is known for passionate colour and for modern materials such as fluorescent dyes, metallic pigments like bronze and aluminium, and bitumen. He served as a model for several generations, and his studio trained artists including Andrei Sârbu, Andrei Mudrea, Dumitru Peicev and Lurie Platon.
Teachers and pupils
Studied with
- Francisc Șirato 1877–1953