I Macchiaioli. Arte italiana verso la modernità

The antecedents, the birth and the initial and happiest season of Macchiaioli painting, that is, the period from the experimentation of the 1850s to the masterpieces of the 1960s, will be the protagonists of the exhibition that for the first time at the GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino will enhance the artistic dialogue between Tuscany, Piedmont and Liguria in the research on the real.

“The Macchiaioli. Italian Art Toward Modernity,” organized and promoted by Fondazione Torino Musei, GAM Torino and 24 ORE Cultura – Gruppo 24 ORE, curated by Cristina Acidini and Virginia Bertone, with the technical-scientific coordination of Silvestra Bietoletti and Francesca Petrucci, sees the collaboration of the Matteucci Institute of Viareggio and presents about 80 works from the most important Italian museums, institutions and private collections, in a rich artistic narrative on the history of the movement, from its origins to 1870, with fascinating comparisons with their Italian contemporaries. Weaving a fruitful dialogue with Macchiaioli painting is GAM’s prestigious 19th-century collection, which encourages an unprecedented opportunity for study. In this perspective, special attention is given back to Antonio Fontanesi, on the bicentenary of his birth, to the Piedmontese artists of the Rivara School (Carlo Pittara, Ernesto Bertea, Federico Pastoris and Alfredo D’Andrade) and to the Ligurian artists of the Scuola dei Grigi (Serafino De Avendaño, Ernesto Rayper), identifying new and original elements of comparison with the painting of Cristiano Banti, Giovanni Fattori, Telemaco Signorini, Odoardo Borrani, protagonists of this crucial artistic season.