Three days dedicated to excellence in Image Studies at the University of Bucharest: A series of events honoring Victor Ieronim Stoichiță

Between April 7- 9, the Faculty of Letters and the Center of Excellence in Image Studies (CESI) at the University of Bucharest will host a series of events celebrating Romania’s most distinguished art historian and image theorist, Victor Ieronim Stoichiță, Emeritus Professor at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland).

Victor Ieronim Stoichiță will be awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of UB

In recognition of his outstanding international contributions to the understanding of modern and contemporary visual arts and culture, the University of Bucharest has the honor of awarding him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in the presence of esteemed guests from Romania’s academic and cultural spheres. The official ceremony will take place on Monday, April 7, at 1:30 PM, in the Senate Hall of the University of Bucharest’s Rectorate Building.

Keynote lecture DESPRE VISE (On Dreams)

In response to receiving this distinguished title, Victor Ieronim Stoichiță will deliver a keynote lecture titled On Dreams on Tuesday, April 8, at 5:00 PM, in the Aula of the “Carol I” Central University Library. Admission is free. The lecture will explore themes from his most recent and acclaimed work, La fabrique du rêve. Songe et représentation au seuil de la modernité (Éditions Hazan, 2024), and will be followed by an open dialogue with the audience.

”Long before the surrealist revolution, the history of art and imagery confronted the dream experience, seeking to give it a visible form. The phenomenon is particularly significant due to the challenges it poses to the strictly verbal mode of dream narration—whether spoken or written—through a fundamentally visual representation. This visual translation carries specific difficulties. The lecture will focus on these,” notes Victor Ieronim Stoichiță.

Round table DESPRE AUTOBIOGRAFIE (On Autobiography)

Library, the Faculty of Letters and CESI will host a roundtable discussion titled On Autobiography, featuring Victor Ieronim Stoichiță as the guest of honor, alongside other prominent figures from the cultural and academic world: Ana Blandiana, corresponding member of the Romanian Academy,   Sorin Alexandrescu, Professor Emeritus at the University of Amsterdam, founding director of CESI, honorary member of the Romanian Academy. Joining remotely: Iulian Boldea, professor at “Petru Maior” University in Târgu Mureș, editor-in-chief of Vatra magazine, which has dedicated special issues in recent years to each of the three writers.

With their diverse and exceptional professional and cultural backgrounds, the participants will explore the intersections between personal identity, history, text and image, cultural belonging, autobiography, memoir, and the diary form. Their reflections will reference both Despărțirea de București (Farewell to Bucharest, translated from French by Mona Antohi, Humanitas, 2015; 2024) and Stoichiță’s academic works, as well as their own internationally recognized writings.

Faculty, students, and friends of the Faculty of Letters are invited to join the discussion. A selection of the roundtable contributions will be published in a special issue of Vatra magazine.

Victor Ieronim Stoichiță (b. June 13, 1949, Bucharest) held the Chair of Modern Art History at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, from 1991 to 2019. He was appointed to the annual chair at the Louvre Museum in 2014, the International Francqui Chair of Belgian Universities in 2015, the Erwin Panofsky Chair at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich in 2017, and the European Chair at the Collège de France in 2017–2018. In 2024, he held the Corrado Ricci Chair at the University of Bologna. He is a member of the European Academy, a corresponding member of the Italian National Academy “dei Lincei,” the Royal Academy of Belgium, and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He has received the Doctor Honoris Causa title from the National University of Arts in Bucharest (2007), the Catholic University of Louvain (2011), the West University of Timișoara (2020), and the University of Bucharest (2025). In 2014, he was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Republic. In 2020, he was honored with the Aby Warburg Foundation Prize in Hamburg and the Martin Warnke Medal for his scholarly work.

His numerous books, published in 12 languages, are widely circulated internationally. His scholarly vision is also well-known to Romanian audiences through early works published before his emigration in 1983 (some republished after 1990), and especially through the Romanian translations of his international works by Humanitas Publishing House, including: Efecul Don Quijote. Repere pentru o hermeneutică a imaginarului european (1995), Scurtă istorie a umbrei (2000), Vezi? Despre privire în pictura impresionistă (2007), Ultimul Carnaval. Goya, Sade și lumea răsturnată (cu Anna Maria Coderch, 2007), Creatorul și umbra lui (2007), Pontormo și manierismul (2008), Experiența vizionară în arta spaniolă a Secolului de Aur (2011), Efectul Pygmalion. De la Ovidiu la Hitchcock (2011), Instaurarea tabloului. Metapictura în zorii Timpurilor Moderne (2012), Efectul Sherlock Holmes. Trei intrigi cinematografice (2013), Cum se savurează un tablou și alte studii de istoria artei (2015), Despărțirea de București. O povestire (2015; based on the French original Oublier Bucarest. Un récit [Actes Sud, Arles, 2014], awarded the French Academy Prize for the promotion of the French language and literature, Imaginea Celuilalt. Negri, evrei, musulmani și țigani în arta occidentală în zorii epocii moderne, 1453-1800 (2017), Despre trup. Anatomii, redute, fantasme (2020).