Hidden Treasures of Balkan Expressionism

City of Orsova is located on the Romanian shore of Danube River not far from Bulgaria, across from Serbia.  In the harbor of this city, on the small, discreet rivera we found an abandoned hotel built in late 70 that could not survive the economical transformation of the Romanian bizarre capitalism of the new millennium.

What strikes is the mural at the entrance wall of the restaurant of this establishment. A pure Balkan Expressionism mixed media design, executed by artists, back in the day. Unfortunately we could not identify the artist / artists to name them here, but judging by the esthetics, we very much consider them Balkan Expressionism.

This piece of glassed terracotta set on a concrete wall, portraying local folk musicians is a little treasure hidden behind some widely grown vegetation in an obscure provincial city on the south western frontier of Romania.

Generally speaking, during communism, the state commissioned artists to design artwork for the hotel and restaurant industry all over the country.  Most of these great pieces of artwork are gone today as hotels change ownership from state to private and the new owners redesigned the buildings but some are still in place in small towns where there is no need for such establishment.