The closer the past is, the less penetrable itbecomes for the historian. The scholar's task is torecollect possible surviving data and to make themintelligible. This book explores some of the mostimportant "existential programs" of the artists wholived in communist Romania. My main attempt in thisstudy is to correct the canon of visual arts of thecommunist period by including some neglected"unofficial" artists in. I hope that the greatmajority of artists who have been at history'smargins will be acknowledged and remembered, and Ialso hope that this rehabilitation will create adifferent panorama of the "new history". I am surethat here are many other artists and cultural workersof that time waiting to be discovered. It is the taskof their contemporaries to make their stories visibleand useful. It is a duty as well. In this sense, Ibelieve that artists, art historians and culturalhistorians will find this book quite interesting.