Bucharest
Romania
A new home for women’s art from the 20th and 21st centuries. The inaugural exhibition Sirens is curated by founder Ecaterina Aguiar-Lucander.
EVA Foundation, founded by curator and collector Ecaterina Aguiar-Lucander, is pleased to announce its new home and collection is free and open to the public by appointment. Marking the debut of the first foundation in Bucharest dedicated to women artists, this inaugural moment introduces the public to both its collection and its newly restored building—a former 1930s townhouse whose transformation bridges the domestic and the institutional.
Conceived through its founder’s commitment to advancing feminist art histories, EVA serves as a dynamic new art space devoted to women artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Located in Bucharest’s Romana neighborhood, the building’s renovation was led by architect Bogdan Ciocodeica, who restored the townhouse’s original turn of the century details while reimagining it as a contemporary space for dynamic art. Ciocodeica selected contemporary furniture pieces that invite visitors to experience the works as if within a lived environment—creating an atmosphere that is both intimate and contemplative.
Situated near Bucharest’s university district, EVA Foundation also aims to serve as an educational resource, inviting students and researchers to engage with art and feminist histories in new ways.
Inaugural exhibition: Sirens
Curated by Ecaterina Aguiar-Lucander
Sirens, the opening presentation at EVA, brings together a constellation of works by pioneering and contemporary women artists, setting the tone for the institution’s mission to foster transnational dialogue across generations. Installed throughout EVA’s renovated townhouse, the exhibition pairs historical icons with bold contemporary voices, highlighting the enduring resonance and innovation of women’s artistic practices.
Highlights include paintings by Hedda Sterne, the Romanian-born artist who became a central figure in the New York School, alongside works by Judy Chicago, Howardena Pindell, and Jenny Holzer. Contemporary practices are represented by Taryn Simon, Andra Ursuța, Carrie Moyer, Gisela Colón, Jenny Holzer, Sara Flores, Tracey Emin, Mona Hatoum, Marguerite Humeau, and Huma Bhabha, among others. Iconic contributions by Yayoi Kusama, Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson, Alice Neel, Martha Jungwirth, Cora Cohen, Latifa Echakhch, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith further expand the dialogue between 20th and 21st century art.
Through this intergenerational assembly, the inaugural exhibition encapsulates EVA’s vision: to situate women’s art at the center of cultural and historical discourse, creating a space of resonance, reflection, and reimagination.
Mission
“EVA Foundation is a celebration of art made by women.”
—Founder Ecaterina Aguiar-Lucander
EVA Foundation is a haven for reflection on the future, present, and past of art created by women—the first publicly accessible collection of international art in Romania. Stemming from its founder’s intellectual engagement with feminist histories, its collection surveys innovative women artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
By pairing 20th-century works with contemporary pieces, the collection connects past and present, contextualizing today’s art-making within a broader narrative of female artistic expression. Housed in a beautifully renovated 1930s single-family home, the collection sheds traditional institutional expectations. It invites cultural dialogue that extends beyond Bucharest—bridging craft and fine art, the local and the transnational, the historical and the futuristic—anchored in a feminist lens and the Romanian spirit of resilience.
About EVA Foundation's Founder
Born and raised in Bucharest and based in New York, Ecaterina Aguiar-Lucander is a curator and collector of women artists whose practice is driven by art’s visceral, transformative potential. Her curatorial approach reflects a deep understanding of the subtly subversive power of art to inspire and provoke thought.
She received her undergraduate degree from Yale and her master’s degree from New York University’s Institute of Fine Art, where she completed her thesis on Romanian expat painter Hedda Sterne. After establishing her career in the New York art world, she sought to give back to Bucharest’s vibrant cultural landscape by founding EVA Foundation—a platform that embodies her commitment to women artists. She is a member of the Metropolitan Museum’s Vanguard Council, the New Museum’s Artemis Council, and the Guggenheim’s Young Collectors Acquisition Committee. With EVA Foundation, she declares a transnational interpretation of art history, drawing connections between works of seemingly disparate origins and shining light on the past to illuminate the present, with an eye on the future.
About the Collection
EVA Foundation’s collection is a celebration of women artists and their indelible mark on art history. By placing emerging voices in dialogue with celebrated figures such as Judy Chicago and Alice Neel, the collection traces a lineage of innovation and subversion across time and geography. Artists represented span more than a dozen nations—including Romania, Kenya, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Peru, and Morocco—underscoring EVA’s commitment to a truly global feminist perspective.
Placing the collection within a restored domestic space embraces the personal and the subjective, allowing art and architecture to exist in dialogue. The townhouse’s design was directly informed by the collection itself, reflecting EVA’s belief that art is a living thing, continually shaped by the space it inhabits and the people it touches.
