BRANCUSI
We preserve, restore and carry forward the legacy of the artist who changed the language of modern sculpture forever.
Constantin Brancusi is the father of modern sculpture — the peasant from Hobița who set out on foot for Paris and went on to change, forever, the way humanity understands form, matter and spirit.
His work does not imitate the world: it reduces it to its essence. Bird in Space is not a bird, but flight itself; the Endless Column is not a monument, but the soul's ascent without end. From his studio in Impasse Ronsin came forms that today stand in the world's greatest museums — from the Centre Pompidou and MoMA to the Guggenheim — and that reach, at the great auctions, prices reserved only for the absolute geniuses of art.
The Constantin Brancusi International Foundation, created in 1991 in New York and Bucharest, exists so that this legacy may be defended, understood and loved — first in the country where Brancusi was born, then everywhere. We work for the conservation of his œuvre, for research and for publishing the truth about it, and for bringing every generation closer to his art. In 2026 — the year in which Romania celebrates by law 150 years since the sculptor's birth — our mission is more timely than ever.
The "Brancusi" monograph, in Romanian
The most important book about the most important Romanian artist is missing precisely from his own country. Radu Varia's monograph "Brancusi" — published by Rizzoli, New York (1986), where it was declared book of the year by American librarians, then by Gallimard, Paris (1989) and Seibu, Tokyo (1993) — is unanimously considered the fundamental work on the sculptor. It has never been published in Romanian. In the Brancusi Year, the Foundation is preparing the first edition in Brancusi's own language: translation, typesetting and printing at the level of the book's international standing.
The Monumental Ensemble at Târgu Jiu
The Endless Column, the Gate of the Kiss and the Table of Silence form the only monumental ensemble Brancusi ever conceived — a poem in stone and steel dedicated to the heroes fallen in the First World War. To save it, the Foundation brought together over the years such expertise as the Getty Conservation Institute and the Swedish Corrosion Institute, placed it on the World Monuments Fund list and secured three million dollars in restoration funding from the World Bank. Since 2024, the Ensemble stands on the UNESCO World Heritage List — and the watch over it continues.
Brancusi, known in Romania and worldwide
Our mission is that anyone — student, collector or simple lover of beauty — may come to know Brancusi's history, his art and his struggles: the road from Hobița to Paris, the years of poverty and genius, the historic trial against the U.S. customs that legally redefined what art means, and the world recognition that came, as so often, before recognition at home. Through lectures, publications and cultural partnerships, we bring this story before every generation, in Romania and everywhere.
The great wish of the Foundation's President, Radu Varia, is the creation of a Brancusi museum in Romania — a place where the sculptor's art may stand, at home, before the eyes of the people from which it was born.
Today, to stand face to face with the great Brancusian masterpieces, a Romanian must travel to Paris, New York or Philadelphia. A museum dedicated to Brancusi in Romania would repair this absence: a space worthy of the work, where the artist's sculptures, documents and story are presented as they deserve — so that every Romanian may see, with their own eyes, the truly marvellous art of the greatest sculptor of the modern world.
It is a project of heart and of years, which the Foundation places at the centre of its vision for the time to come.
"He who does not step out of the Self never reaches the Absolute, nor does he decipher life."Constantin Brancusi
Be part of the Brancusi Year
The companies and individuals who join the Foundation's projects invest in an act of cultural restitution that happens only once.
How to contribute