Eliconie

3 Febbraio – 5 Giugno 2016

Il Simbolismo. Arte in Europa dalla Belle Époque alla Grande Guerra è una grande mostra che si inserisce in un preciso programma che Palazzo Reale dedica all’arte tra fine Ottocento e inizio Novecento e che ha già visto l’inaugurazione di Alfons Mucha e le atmosfere art nouveau (fino al 20 marzo 2016).
Promossa dal Comune di Milano-Cultura e prodotta da Palazzo Reale, 24 ORE Cultura – Gruppo 24 ORE e Arthemisia Group, la mostra è a cura di Fernando Mazzocca e Claudia Zevi in collaborazione con Michel Draguet.
“La prima grande mostra del 2016 di Palazzo Reale è dedicata a uno dei movimenti artistici che hanno marcato il passaggio dall’Ottocento al Novecento, segnando il superamento della rappresentazione oggettiva della realtà e approdando a una dimensione più intima e soggettiva del reale – ha dichiarato l’assessore alla Cultura Filippo Del Corno –. Un percorso suggestivo e affascinante che accompagnerà il visitatore in mostra, conducendolo lungo un percorso di opere straordinarie realizzate da quegli artisti che, nel corso della loro vita, hanno abbracciato il movimento simbolista”.
Con oltre 2.000 mq di superficie espositiva e 24 sale site al piano nobile di Palazzo Reale di Milano, Il Simbolismo. Arte in Europa dalla Belle Époque alla Grande Guerra mette per la prima volta a confronto i simbolisti italiani con quelli stranieri grazie a circa un centinaio di dipinti, oltre alla scultura e una eccezionale selezione di grafica, che rappresenta uno dei versanti più interessanti della produzione artistica del Simbolismo, provenienti da importanti istituzioni museali italiane ed europee oltre che da collezioni private.

Symbolism. European Art from the Belle Époque to the Great War is a major exhibition and part of a special programme by Palazzo Reale dedicated to art between thelate nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; this includes the recently opened exhibition Alphonse Mucha and the Art Nouveau Atmospheres(to 20 March 2016). Promoted by the City of Milano-Cultura and produced by Palazzo Reale, 24 ORE Cultura –Gruppo 24 ORE and Arthemisia Group, the exhibition is curated byFernando Mazzocca and Claudia Zevi in collaboration with Michel Draguet. As Filippo del Corno, Councillor for Culture, put it: “Palazzo Reale’s first major exhibition of 2016 is dedicated to one of the artistic movements that marked the transition from the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries, a period that transcended the objective representation of reality to achieve a more intimate and subjectivedimension of the real”. Del Corno continues: “These fascinating worksof stunning beautywill accompany the visitorsto the show, leading them along a path filled withthe marvellous creations made by artists who chose to embrace the Symbolist movement”.With over 2,000 square metres of exhibition surfacearea and 24 rooms located on the piano nobile of Palazzo Reale in Milan, for the first time ever Symbolism. European Art from the Belle Époque to the Great Warcompares the Italian Symbolists with those from other countries. The comparison takes place in one hundred paintings, sculptures, and an exceptional selection of prints, representing some of Symbolism’s most interesting output, and hailing from major Italian and European museums as well as private collections.The exhibition, in addition to allowingfor an in-depth and up-to-date study of the period, with the publication of specialized essays in the catalogue released by 24 ORE Cultura, has also made possible the restoration, cleaning, and maintenance of over ten works from Ca’ Pesaro di Venezia, of Arnold Böcklin’s Self-Portrait, from the Galleria degli Uffizi di Firenze, of the frames in Gaetano Previati’s The Eroica, from the Associazione Nazionale Mutilati e Invalidi di Guerra, as well as of Giulio Aristide Sartorio’s polyptych Wise Virgins and Foolish Virgins, owned by the Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna in Rome. The operation is an important one, which shows how temporary exhibitions, besides valorizing the works, can also offer an opportunity to participate actively in the preservation of Italy’s artistic heritagethanks to the funding that derives from them.Symbolism was both a moment of closure to progress and to a society dominated by the predominance of quantity, and aperiod of openness aimed at the affirmation of modernity that, inspired by the poetry ofBaudelaire, maderesistance to modernity its distinguishing feature. Emblematic of the fall and failure, The Flowers of Evilare the point of departure of a cultural period thatis, first and foremost,defined by repudiation: the refusalof the real reduced to mere intuitive perception, the disapprovalof academicism, the declinationof naturalism and verismo. This long list of rejectionsseems to define Symbolism as the ultimate answer to the threefold frustrations of modern man: frustration generated, historically, by Copernicus (Man is no longer the centre of the universe), Darwin (Man is not the accomplishment of evolution),and Freud (Man is incapable, by nature, of dominating his inner drives).From a figurative point of view, thereis a recovery of the images of that “paradise lost” identified in the painting of the Italian primitives and, in general, of the original myths. Literature is the great go-between in thisrevolution of imagery, wherethe theme of the dream, of opiate-induced delirium, of madness seems
to unify the European culture that will be revolutionized by Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, published in Vienna in 1900.What stems from this is a recovery of the dream-like dimension, the heroic world of mythology, scandalous themes such as erotic love, death, and sin.The exhibition presents, for the first time ever in Italy, some of the most significant masterpieces of European Symbolism: first, visitors can view some of the icons of the Symbolist idea of the world: Caresses (The Art of)featuringthe amazing cheetah-woman by Fernand Khnopff, and the Head of Orpheus floating on water by Jean Delville, both works from the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels; the large-scale, sublime work by Ferdinand Hodlerentitled The Chosen One, from the Osthaus Museum in Hagen,andThe Silence of the Forestby Arnold Böcklin, from the National Gallery of Poznan. These worksarebeing shown for the first timeever in Italy, and they arealready raising the expectations of both the public and the critics.One of the most scenographic sections of the exhibition includes the rooms dedicated to the 1907 Biennale: an extraordinary window from which to view the most progressive Italian art, which also evolved thanks tothe influence of the great exhibitions of the Berlin and Vienna Secessions. Giulio Aristide Sartorio’s work is visible in the pictorial cycle The Epic Poem of Human Life, realized forthe 1907 Biennale. That was the same event that witnessed the installation of the famous Sala dell’Arte del Sogno(Roomof the Art of the Dream), officially consecrating Symbolism in Italy. Sartorio’s cycle is accompanied by the sound installation by Vincenza artist Alberto Tadiello, whose intervention –the incipit of a musical composition played over and over again in a staggered manner –creates a new experience of artistic enjoyment.Across18 theme-based sections, the exhibition unfolds amidst dream-like atmospheres and dimensions: accompanied by the poems of Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil, visitors can admire the Satanic representations by Odilon Redon, the portrayals of myths by Gustave Moreau, the vitalism of Ferdinand Hodler, the colourism of the Nabis artists. Giovanni Segantini’s interpretations of love, Gaetano Previati’s Divisionist imaginary, and the magic of Galileo Chini’s decoration bear witness, among other things, to the importance of the Symbolist movement in Italy , and also enable us to becomeacquainted with less-known names: Luigi Bonazza, an Italian follower of Klimt, Leo Putz, Giorgio Kienerk, and the sculptors Leonardo Bistolfi and Amleto Cataldi. The exhibition ends with the fantastic atmosphere immersing viewers in the One Thousand and One Nights, the decorative cycle made by Zecchin on the eve of the Great War.

Opening hours: Monday 2:30 –7:30 p.m.Tuesday -Wednesday -Friday-Sunday 9:30 a.m. –7:30 p.m.Thursday -Saturday 9:30 a.m. –10:30p.m
Information and reservations:+39 02 54914
www.mostrasimbolismo.it

UFFICIO STAMPA ARTHEMISIA GRUP
press@arthemisia.it - T +39 06 69380306

Palazzo Reale di Milano
Piazza del Duomo 12
Milano
http://www.palazzorealemilano.it