The “Venus of the rags”, one of the best-known sculptures by the Italian contemporary artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, was burned in Naples after a fire that is considered to have been intentionalThe authorities announced this Wednesday.
This work, which depicts the Roman goddess of beauty, love and fertility next to a pile of rags, was outside in front of the town hall of this southern Italian city.
The mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, said that the fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning “was an act of great violence.” that he “left him speechless”. He promised the reconstruction of the work.
Pistoletto was filled with “bitterness and is very affected” by this act of “vandalism,” Manfredi said, after speaking with the artist.
There are several versions of the “Venus of the rags”, which mixes a classical sculpture with debris from contemporary society.
Pistoletto, 90, is considered a pivotal figure in the Italian Arte Povera movement. Her works have been exhibited in New York, London and Paris.