Painting on wood with mirror, "Movie Stars", 23x23 cm

This painting with mirror measures 23x23 cm and is painted in tempera colours. The painted area is varnished. The inside mirror measures 9x9 cm. 

Original, hand-made painting. Signed, "DAM" (Ana Drăgan).

"During the communist era, in the little plain village where my grandparents lived, there were weekly movie projections. On the weekends, wearing his good clothes, my grandfather worked as a projectionist, a job he never disliked at all. Back then, all the village had watched "Gone with the wind", "Rebecca", "Cleopatra" and other films. I can just imagine how they went, working in the fields, every Monday, discussing the latest film they saw. They were young laborers, with sunburnt faces and rough hands, but on holidays and feasts, wearing their good clothes, they almost looked like the old movie stars."

The message is in Romanian, and it translates as:

Movie stars, I've seen some in my days; wearing makeup and perfume, dressed in silk, with earrings and jewels, oh, ever so beautiful! But you, my love, ain't no movie star; your teeth - like pearls, your cheeks like flowers and your eyes - two rare gems!