Dimitrie Serafim (1862 – 1931) was a Romanian painter in the Academic and Impressionist styles.
Serafim was born in Bucharest. His father, Anton Serafim (1838-1911) was a church painter of Greek ancestry who originally came from Varna. His two brothers as a consequence became church painters.
From 1882 to 1888, he studied in Bucharest behind Theodor Aman and Gheorghe Tattarescu, After failing to receive a scholarship, his family provided him subsequently an child support to examination at the Académie Julian in Paris. In 1892, he exhibited at the first “Salon de Arta Românească”, finally receiving a stipend that enabled him to recompense to Paris, where he worked when Jean-Léon Gérôme and Jean-Jacques Henner.
Under the imitate of Tattarescu and Nicolae Grigorescu, he had focused upon Impressionism, but his complex studies turned him to the Academic style and he began to favor large canvases upon mythological themes. Many of his post-Paris works have been characterized as “L’art pompier”.
After 1901, he was a Professor at the “Academia de Arte Frumoase” (now the Universitatea Națională de Arte București), but was apparently not a particularly distinguished teacher. His paintings were cutting edge criticized by Petru Comarnescu for their “excessive pathos”. Very few of his works are in museums.
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