Temporary Exhibitions
On Tuesday, August 5, 2025, the National Art Museum of Moldova, in collaboration with the National Museum of Romanian Literature, will open the commemorative exhibition: “Aurel David. Painting, Graphics.”
The retrospective exhibition dedicated to Aurel David, marking the 90th anniversary of the artist’s birth, brings together works of painting and graphic art from the collections of both the National Art Museum of Moldova and the National Museum of Romanian Literature, created by the artist over three decades of artistic activity.
Aurel David's work was multifaceted—he was a painter, graphic artist, sculptor, and muralist. All of his creations bear the mark of grandeur characteristic of true art. His artistic expression is honest and refined in color.
A creator of valuable works that defined an era—alongside Mihai Grecu, Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu, Igor Vieru, and Ada Zevin—he remains relevant through the sense of nobility his art instilled in the souls of his contemporaries and the strong resonance it has for younger generations.
Aurel David was born on June 18, 1935, in Chișinău, into the family of a journalist. He graduated from the I. Repin Republican School of Fine Arts (1954), studying under Rostislav Okuşko, Ivan Hazov, O. Cacearov, and Dimitrie Sevastianov. He continued his studies at the V. Surikov Institute of Fine Arts in Moscow (1960), under professors D. Mochalski, A. Deineka, and M. Alpatov.
Between 1960 and 1964, he worked in the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture of the Moldavian SSR and became a member of the Union of Fine Artists. From 1964 onward, he devoted himself exclusively to the creative process.
In 1957, Aurel David participated in the Young Painters' Exhibition in Warsaw, Poland. Between 1960 and 1984, he took part in numerous national exhibitions (in Chișinău, Soroca, Tiraspol, and Bender) and international exhibitions in Austria, Germany, Madagascar, Syria, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.
His works are preserved in the public collections of the National Art Museum of Moldova, the National Museum of History of Moldova, the National Museum of Romanian Literature, the Pushkin House-Museum, the Constantin Brâncuși Exhibition Center, the Tighina Art Gallery, as well as in private collections in Chișinău (Republic of Moldova), Tomsk (Russia), and Tashkent (Uzbekistan).
Aurel David passed away on July 19, 1984. In 1990, he was posthumously awarded the State Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of fine arts.
In 2004, the monograph Aurel David, written by graphic artist Gheorghe Vrabie, was published.
