The island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice will present from May 10 to July 28, 2019 “BURRI painting, irreducible presence”, a large and important anthological retrospective dedicated to Alberto Burri, crowning a season of great celebration of the Umbrian artist both in Italy that abroad.
The exhibition, curated by Bruno Corà, President of the Burri Foundation, and organized by the Giorgio Cini Foundation and the Burri Foundation in collaboration with Tornabuoni Arte Paola Sapone MCIA, is a project conceived specifically for Venice that chronologically retraces the most significant stages of the Master’s journey of ‘matter’ through many of his most important masterpieces.
From the very rare Catrami (1948) to the last and monumental Cellotex (1994), about 50 works from important Italian and foreign museums, from the Burri Foundation and prestigious private collections will be exhibited, reconstructing the historical and artistic life of one of the greatest protagonists of the Italian and European art of the 20th century.
The exhibition shows Burri in Venice after the memorable solo show which in 1983 featured 18 works of the Sextante cycle in the striking building of the former shipyards at the Giudecca, marking a milestone in the artist’s career.
The exhibition will offer the visitor the unique opportunity to admire an unpublished selection of works that represent all the most famous cycles made by Burri: from the first and rare Catrami (1948) and the Muffe (1948), presented in close comparison with the iconic Sacchi (1949-50), ai Gobbi (1950), to get to the fascinating Combustioni (1953), the Legni (1955), the Ferri (1958), the contorted Plastiche (1960) and the extraordinary evolution of the Cretti (1970) , become one of Burri’s most iconic research themes, up to the large Cellotex, made until the mid-nineties.The Venetian exhibition – whose title refers to the famous definition given by the artist himself to his work, and the difficulty of translating it into words – will thus offer a penetrating reading of the way in which this pioneer of the new twentieth century painting tackled the central theme of his time: use and transformation of matter into a artwork.
Website: www.cini.it
Location: Fondazione Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
Schedule: May 10 – July 28, 2019
Opening hours: 10 am – 6 pm
Ticket: up to €13
