Christmas exhibitions, so much to see in the city: an opportunity to fill yourself with beauty and deepen your knowledge. For example: at the Mudec (until March 27) and at the Gam di Villa Reale (until March 6), two apparently very different exhibitions invite you to think about the evolutionary models of artistic paths.
The first at Mudec, “Piet Mondrian. From figuration to abstraction “, based on a concept by Benno Tempel and curated by Daniel Koep, explains how Mondrian nourished himself with the traditional landscapes painted by his Dutch compatriots and then broke away from them and arrived at the essentiality of the abstract and the revolutionary work on forms and on primary colors. Behind his geometric compositions, therefore, there are years of experimentation on the representation of nature and on the role of light and vertical elements – trees, windmills – on the Dutch landscape: as evidenced by the extraordinary works exhibited, including “Sea after sunset “And” Studio pointilliste “. The exhibition reviews some of the most significant artists of the Hague School that inspired Mondrian and is completed with an in-depth study of the Neoplastic period, which with its aspiration to unification of the arts and universality profoundly influenced design. The itinerary is completed by appointments with talks on “Codice Mondrian” and a podcast in five episodes available on the platforms, on the Radio 24 website and on the mudec.it website. (via Tortona 56, 14 euros).
Piet Mondrian, “Sea after sunset”, 1909
The thirty works exhibited on the ground floor of the Royal Villa for the “Divisionism” exhibition, curated by Giovanna Ginex, they come from the two collections of the Gam and the Pinacoteca di Tortona. We go to the roots of the movement, through the works, among others, of Giacomo Balla, Leonardo Bistolfi, Umberto Boccioni, Tranquillo Cremona, Angelo Morbelli, Giovanni Segantini: and we analyze how, from the chromatic and thematic experiments of the Scapigliati, to the work on landscapes, reflections on realism and the social changes underway have landed not in a single movement, but in several Divisionisms. Because, at a certain point, many artists of different backgrounds and natures began to apply “the practice of dots and dashes” or the “division of color” to give the paintings “greater intensity and brightness”, as the critic Virginio wrote Columbus in 1895? And what relationship was there between these technical innovations and the decisive transition to a new world and a different way of perceiving reality? The exhibition offers ideas to answer these questions: noting how, once more, Milan has been at the center of the avant-gardes and aesthetic rethinks (via Palestro 16, 5 euros, www.gam-milano.com).
We also report an appointment that has become a Christmas tradition and that last year was forced to cancel. The masterpiece exhibited for the holidays in Marino Palace this time it multiplies by four and pays homage to the artistic wealth and civil courage of Bergamo and Brescia, named Italian capitals of culture 2023. These are four fundamental works of the Eastern Lombard Renaissance, which was full of references to the great Venetian painting and also of preparation for the Caravaggio to come. They are the “Mystical Wedding of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Niccolò Bonghi” by Lorenzo Lotto, from the Carrara Academy of Bergamo, “San Nicola di Bari presents the pupils of Galeazzo Rovellio to the Madonna Enthroned with Child”, by Moretto da Brescia, and the “Adoration of the shepherds” by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, both from the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia, and the “Madonna with child and the saints Catherine of Alexandria, Francis and the offerer” by Giovanni Battista Moroni, on loan from the Pinacoteca di Brera (piazza Scala 2, there is time until January 16).
Few metro stops and, al Diocesan Museum in piazza Sant’Eustorgio, a wonderful Titian awaits you: “The Annunciation”, Masterpiece for Milan 2021 in an initiative that has reached its thirteenth edition. Painted around 1558 for a family of Genoese bankers and merchants based in Naples, the painting comes from the Capodimonte Museum and is a very rare example of Venetian painting in the Neapolitan area. (piazza Sant’Eustorgio 3, until February 6).