18.10.2011 / Arts & Culture
Landscapes of the soul
Reality as seen through the unconscious. That’s the recurring theme of a major exhibition on Symbolism and its Italian manifestaions currently being held in Padua.
Between the end of the Nineteenth century and the beginning of the Twentieth century, European artists started to look at the world in a non-naturalistic way through the lens of mistery and dream, distorting and changing every perception and filling it with symbols.
That was the time of poet Gabriele D’Annnunzio and composer Richard Wagner, and the time of the great exhibitions that brought the European influences to Italy. Drawing inspirations from the great masters of Austrian and German Symbolism – Gustav Klimt and Franz von Stuck – some Italian painters started to explore dream-like atmospheres, following their fascination of the soul and the spirit.
Segantini, Previati, Pelizza da Volpedo and Morbelli followed the rules of Divisionism in Milan, while in Rome Sartorio and De Carolis drew inspiration from the British Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Yet, what they all had in common is an attraction towards the irrational: myths, riddles and mysteries.
To the point that, in 1907, Venice’s Biennale devoted a whole room to the Dream, finally aknowledging Italian Symbolism. That room has been reconstructed right at the end of Padua’s exhibition, through some of the works that used to be on display in the original one.
Until February 21, 2012 at Palazzo Zabarella, Padua. In the picture above: Gustav Klimt, Judith.
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