Film making

To think of Italian artwork is to think of the Renaissance. Supported by the Pope and the powerful Medici family, the arts flourished during the 14the through the 16th centuries. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, these are the artists whose names inspire awestruck reverence. Florence became the art capital of the world.

Another epochal period in art history began mid-19th century when France gave us Impressionism. Like the Renaissance, artists flourished, became famous and lived in comfort. The 20th century brought us the modern period when Picasso and Matisse earned international fame and wealth. Paris was the reigning art capital.

Quietly working in a studio in his hometown of Bologna, Italy, Giorgio Morandi, while watching the trends in Paris from afar, avoided the clamor. While managing to earn a reputation as a modern master and the foremost still life painter of the 20th century, he worked in solitude.

Morandi was influenced by another Italian, Giorgio de Chirico, whose paintings depicted a brooding surrealism. Nevertheless he is often compared with Giotto, a pre-Renaissance painter of childlike simplicity. The paintings of Morandi, unembellished still lifes of ordinary bottles, evoke the architecture of Italy, especially that of medieval Bologna.

There is a saying in artistic composition that less is often more. Morandi certainly embraced this concept. With a neutral tonality, the lack of any overt technical gimmicks such as reflecting light or mirroring images, removing labels that would force attention, he gave us an almost pure form of abstraction. With his simple motifs, repeated tirelessly, a spiritual component overtakes the seemingly banal composition.

Traveling in Italy, the grandeur of its artistic heritage can overwhelm. A visit to the Morandi Museum in Bologna will refresh your aesthetic appreciation for Italian artwork. There is no history to absorb, no literary message to understand. Only the simple forms and the play of light. You will wonder how something so ordinary can revive your spirit. That is what a gifted artist can do. Read more about: Italian Artwork