"If Neagu Djuvara didn’t exist, my life would have been fundamentally different.
My current profession is – not at all by chance – that of illustrator (and occasional writer) of popular history books." — Radu OLTEAN.
I remained close with Mr Djuvara, although I visited him less over the years.
I am very proud of this collaboration and these books.
Together, we created three highly successful history books, which have educated generations of children and which to this day continue to sell almost as well as on their first day of publication.
I was left with the delightful feeling that he had treated me – someone over 50 years his junior – with a respect I had never received from someone of such a venerable age.
Friendly and charming, he had complete trust in me, giving me free rein to choose what I wanted to illustrate.
It was a match made in heaven.
It was precisely at this time that Humanitas were looking for an illustrator for The Birth of the Romanian People.
Neagu Djuvara then became for me the embodiment of a dream come true.
I was hoping that one day I might put together a book of popular history for young people, a book devoid of propaganda, myths and nationalist falsehoods.
Entirely by chance, a year prior I had started painting, for the first time in my life, a series of illustrations inspired by Romania’s ancient history.
In 2001, Humanitas offered me the opportunity to illustrate a history book for young people, written by Neagu Djuvara. "If Neagu Djuvara didn’t exist, my life would have been fundamentally different
