Home > ArtoftheDay Weekly > #377 - from 26 February 2015 to 4 March 2015 > Morandi, the man who reinvented still lifes

Art Of The Day Weekly

#377 - from 26 February 2015 to 4 March 2015

Morandi, the man who reinvented still lifes

ROME – He was a painter, a total painter, who throughout his life tried to stay away from the upheavals in the world by staying in his little workshop in Bologna. He did not always succeed: he was put in jail briefly in May 1943, suspected of being an active member of the Resistance, and after the war he was constantly invited to join jurys and other mundane activities, though he systematically rejected that type of honors. Nevertheless, Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) left a unique mark in XXth century painting as can be seen in the prices for his still lifes with bottles, now become quasi icons, something like contemporary "bodegones". This retrospective follows other major exhibitions, and in particular the posthumous one in 1973, mounted by critic Cesare Brandi and does not ignore his first years, with surprising Cubist compositions, nor his landscapes nor his etchings that are even less known. We also learn that this rare painter knew how to cultivate solid friendships: aside from Brandi, he was very close to art historian Roberto Longhi as can be seen in the section dedicated to the letters exchanged with the "inventor" of Caravaggio.

• Morandi at the Vittoriano, from 28 February to 21 June 2015.

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