Storck House. Space and light

On Vasile Alecsandri Street, at number 16, is the building where the Frederic Storck and Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck Museum of Art has been operating since 1951, designed in the Anglo-Norman neo-Gothic style by Alexandru Clavel and erected between 1912 and 1913. In this space, light discreetly outlines silhouettes and volumes, creating a complete harmony of colors and materials.

The red facades, punctuated by exposed beams, are complemented by ornamental stone ornaments, anchorings and bas-reliefs sculpted by the first owner of the house. On the ground floor of the building, right from the entrance, there are monumental murals by Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck, which cover the entire surface of the walls and ceiling of the central hall. Following it, in a softly-lit space, is the artist's painting studio, decorated with a fresco depicting Earthly Love and Spiritual Love, separated by a replica of the portal of the Colțea Church, to which are added a series of oil and watercolor paintings, sculptures and furniture belonging to the two artists.

Also on the ground floor, at the end of the long hallway where statues with a religious theme are on display, illuminated by circular stained-glass windows, is Frederic Storck's sculpture studio. Inside the spacious and brightly lit studio today stands the model of the Episcopal Church of Curtea de Argeș, created by Karl Storck for the 1867 Paris Universal Exhibition, together with monumental sculptures, portraits, busts and small statues.

The Storck family art collection includes more than 2,300 works by sculptors Karl, Carol and Frederic Storck, paintings by Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck, ceramist Cecilia Storck-Botez, his daughter, and other Romanian and foreign artists. Although the building's ground floor, terraces and gardens are open to visitors, the Storck House continues to be inhabited, and the current members of the family propose activities to the public that are designed to reanimate this space and put it back on the cultural map of Bucharest.