Constantin Brâncuși’s passion for sculpting started when he was a child in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains. The son of peasants, his first carvings were of wooden farm tools, made when he wasn’t busy herding the family’s flock of sheep. By the time Brâncuși was 18, he’d created a makeshift violin using materials he found. In 1898, he earned a degree in woodwork at the Craiova School of Arts and Crafts; this quickly led to sculpture training at the Bucharest School of Fine Arts. The young artist moved to Munich in 1903, and then to Paris, where he entered Auguste Rodin’s workshop. They weren’t a good fit. After two months, Brâncuși left. “Nothing can grow under big trees,” he said. Brâncuși went on the express shapes in nature as spare, geometrical forms, effectively pioneering modern sculpture. Bringing the master’s work back to his home country, this exhibition in Romania features exceptional loans from the Centre Pompidou, in Paris; the Tate, in London; and many other museums. —Elena Clavarino