The revolution of Impressionism: experiments and successes

Thursday February 23rd, 2023 , Schools & Periods

CLAUDE MONET, Vue de Londres dans le brouillard "La Tamise". Tecnica mista su carta. 21x28 cm . 1903. Collezione privata

CLAUDE MONET, Vue de Londres dans le brouillard “La Tamise”. Tecnica mista su carta. 21×28 cm . 1903. Collezione privata

THE REVOLUTION OF IMPRESSIONISM: EXPERIMENTS AND SUCCESSES

When, in April 1874, a small group of artists organised an exhibition at the studio of the photographer Nadar in the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris, they did not think they were at the beginning of an artistic revolution. It was the debut of a group of young artists who were about to create an unprecedented artistic phenomenon.

The curator of the Impressionists between dream and colour exhibition, Vincenzo Sanfo, explained well what the Impressionist revolution consisted of and emphasised how from the dismay and horror with which the first works were greeted, we moved on to …

The Impressionism Revolution

Flemish painting and the conquest of reality

Monday July 11th, 2022 , Schools & Periods

FLEMISH PAINTING AND THE CONQUEST OF REALITY

There is a moment in the history of art when something extraordinary happens.
It is that moment when we pass from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance, that phase in which Flemish painting begins to describe reality.

When did this epochal transition occur? Who was the first to realise that art should not only describe the sacred, but could show the real world?
The answers to these questions can be found in this post written by Adele Pelazza.

the conquest of reality

Gribouillage: when doodling becomes art

Thursday May 12th, 2022 , Events and Exhibitions, Schools & Periods

GRIBOUILLAGE: WHEN DOODLING BECOMES ART

I had the opportunity to visit an exhibition that, with unusual juxtapositions, sheds light on lesser-known aspects of the practice of drawing.
Gribouillage/Scarabocchio. From Leonardo da Vinci to Cy Twombly is the exhibition curated by Francesca Alberti and Diane Bodart that takes place first in Rome, at the Academy of France – Villa Medici, then in Paris, at the Beaux-Arts.

The exhibition project explores the hidden side of art making and invites visitors to move their gaze to the back of paintings, the walls of workshops, the margins of a book or the walls of cities.
Two complementary exhibitions to address the many facets of doodling in art.

In this post I propose the sections of the Rome exhibition, which has the merit of underlining how experimentation and the search for a primordial sign, which does not respect any academic rule, is a necessity present not only in the contemporary era.
Gribouillage: when doodling becomes art

Gribouillage: when doodling becomes art

Titian’s women: the female portrait in sixteenth-century Venice

Monday March 14th, 2022 , Schools & Periods

TITIAN’S WOMEN: THE FEMALE PORTRAIT IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY VENICE

Titian’s women appear sensual and elegant.
In his numerous portraits, they seem to belong to the more affluent strata of society and appear strong and confident.
Was this really the case?

In 16th-century Venice, the image of women took on a role that had never been seen before in the history of painting.
In this post I propose an analysis of the role of women in 16th-century Venice by looking at the most beautiful paintings.

Titian’s women

Nature in art: from the Romantics to Segantini

Wednesday March 9th, 2022 , Events and Exhibitions, Schools & Periods

Caspar David Friedrich, Donna sulla spiaggia di Rügen, 1818, circa olio su tela, cm 21.5 x 30 Kunst Museum Winterthur, Fondazione Oskar Reinhart © SIK-ISEA, Zurigo (Philipp Hitz)

NATURE IN ART: FROM THE ROMANTICS TO SEGANTINI

The representation of nature in art has always offered artists the opportunity to describe the world and our relationship with the planet we live on.

The history of art is full of works depicting beautiful landscapes, but it is also full of stories in which Nature and its elements are personified by deities, taken from classical culture, that allow us to understand our connection with the world.
I recently visited an exhibition (details at the bottom of this post) that took me on a journey of discovery of nature in art and offered me the chance to understand how nature became so important in the 19th century.

Nature in art