ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

The New Prophet. The Making of the Official Image of Elena Ceauşescu 113In this example we are requested to take part in the gigantesque end ofthe Ceauşescu family drama. The painting represents Nicolae Ceauşescu as aleader of opinion on his release from the Târgu-Jiu prison. Nicolae and Elena’sfirst contact is an epidermical one, made possible by a huge bouquet of flowershe is offered by her, in a sentimental manner caused by her long wait. Thebouquet of flowers is the only colourful and vivid detail, which stands for thereconstruction and reconfiguration of the new and happy world. This worldannounces the disappearance of all sorts of opposed classes and the birth of anew world guided by both of them in order to keep everything under control.Accordingly, the image of the couple dreaming about communism as well astheir happy marriage during the party meeting breaks do not go beyond sometimid handshakes.As I have already mentioned above, Elena and Nicolae got married inthe spring of 1945, right after the Second World War. Their married life acquiresthe hyperbolic proportions of a metaexistence. The artistic representation relatedto this characterization are missing, but poetry can easily supply the gap. Theauthor of the following lines endows Elena Ceausescu with acrobatic ambitions:“Femeia,/cu ochi de mare, cu fruntea/de raze superbe şi lucide,/cusufletul mai bogat decât toate minele de aur,/descoperite vreodată,/matrice