Giorgio Morandi

Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna in 1890 and trained at the Academy of Fine Arts here, developing from the very beginning a research focused on a few essential genres: still life, landscape, and, to a lesser extent, flowers. After an initial interest in Cézanne and in the painting of the ancient masters, in the Ten Years period he approached Metaphysics, an experience that contributed to the definition of his rigorous personal language. Throughout his career, however, Morandi remained away from the dominant currents, building an autonomous research based on observation and the continuous variation of seemingly simple subjects. His activity developed primarily in Bologna, where he spent most of his life, and includes painting, drawing, and engraving. His works are now preserved in the major international museum collections and are recognized for the extraordinary ability to transform everyday objects and familiar landscapes into images of intense poetic concentration. Drawing plays a fundamental role in his work: often conceived as a study, it can take on full expressive autonomy through the synthesis of line and the careful modulation of tonal values.