From Previati to Mentessi, from Boldini to De Pisis. A new itinerary at the Estense Castle in Ferrara until 27 December 2017.
A selection of works temporarily housed in the museum's deposits replaces some of the paintings and drawings, for a rotation which, without betraying the guidelines of the exhibition, will propose a new edition.
In particular, the room dedicated to the representation of modern life will be entirely dedicated to Boldini and to the stylistic code with which the Ferrarese master captures the effervescent rhythm of the Belle epoque. From the rehearsals with which the dynamism of Parisian life is masterfully restored, Two White Horses, to the representations of nightlife, The socialite singer and Nocturnal in Montmartre, to culminate with an authentic icon of modern elegance, Firework.
The selection of works on paper was then completely revised, both to limit their exposure to light for conservation reasons and to offer the public the opportunity to admire further evidence of the graphic talent of artists such as Boldini, Gaetano Previati, Giuseppe Mentessi and Filippo de Pisis.
Furthermore, a selection of works from the XNUMXth century will enrich the story, bearing witness to the results, now completed, of a renewed way of looking at the past, at the landscape and at interiors, whether they are inhabited by figures or still lifes. For example, a traditional historical-allegorical theme finds an original interpretation in the filamentous and expressive divisionism with which Aroldo Bonzagni creates Flames in the Mediterranean. In turn, the section dedicated to internalized visions of nature that alternate at the turn of the century is enriched with a Landscape by Achille Funi: a work with lively and almost naive writing that suggests the reception of French suggestions, with a opening of interests not obvious in one of the leading artists of the art scene of the twenty years.
The room has been completely renovated and offers an insight into the theme of the atelier, as a symbolic place of artistic creation and the field of action of its creator. Paintings and works on paper by Roberto Melli and Filippo de Pisis flank works by Boldini on the theme of portraits and "studio interiors". The autobiographical value of these original creations by Boldini seems to find an ideal continuity in the works of the young Ferrarese, despite the distances: both in the interiors traced by De Pisis with a strongly personal and immediate sign, as well as in the still lifes in which Roberto Melli creates a mysterious dialogue between unusual objects and bright color ranges.
