An ideal journey through the history of Italian art of the last century through fifty works including paintings, drawings, and sculptures, all from private collections. The project focuses on the period from the late twenties to the early sixties: a historical phase of profound transformations for Italian society, which in less than forty years experienced Fascism, World War II, the Resistance, reconstruction, and the economic boom.

The years marked by the exhibition path are therefore those that follow the setting of the historical Avant-gardes and that overlap with the emergence, in the sixties, of the “new” Avant-gardes. Some of the works presented imply a critical reflection on the former, others an announcement of the latter. These are also the years affected, at their heart, by the unfolding of the second world conflict: its tragedies, as well as its legacies, are essential components for deeply reading the work of artists who directly experienced them.

During the Fascist period, Italian art was strongly influenced by the cultural autarchy induced by the regime: the recovery of traditional values and the consequent return to order — after the revolution produced by the Avant-gardes — faithfully reflected the political ideology of that period. This phenomenon, which had its main expression in the Novecento group, would be challenged by the proposals of the Roman School and Lombard Chiarismo, to be then definitively overcome by Realism, Neo-cubism, and Informalism.

In the immediate post-war period, indeed, Italian culture experienced a powerful desire for rebirth and realignment with international trends, testified by the formation of some of the most vital groups in the Italian artistic panorama, such as the New Front of the Arts and the Group of Eight.

Many of the most important protagonists of these groups and trends are part of the exhibition at the Villa Bassi Rathgeb Museum: Massimo Campigli, Pietro Marussig, Mario Mafai, Renato Guttuso, Giuseppe Santomaso, Renato Birolli, Afro, Emilio Vedova, Piero Dorazio, Tancredi, Parmeggiani, and many others.

To make the exhibition richer and more complete, some works from another private collection in Padua have been added, along with loans from two important private galleries, Galleria Cinquantasei in Bologna and Galleria Maco Arte in Padua. Thanks to the common commitment of all the subjects involved, even the gaze of a wider public can now rest on the paintings exhibited in this exhibition.

Cover: Afro Basaldella, Ritorno da Venezia, 1950, collezione privata © by SIAE 2023