An exhibition on Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo in his hometown brings Sul fienile back to the place where he was conceived

From June 2 to 30, 2019, Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo (Volpedo, 1868 - 1907) returns to his native village, Volpedo, in the province of Alessandria, with an exhibition that brings the canvas On the Barn, one of Pellizza’s most important works in private collections, back to the place where it was conceived and painted. The exhibition, titled simply Pellizza da Volpedo. On the Barn, shows the large canvas to the public after its recent restoration, following which the painting was also reinstalled in its original frame.

Prepared with long reflection during 1892, On the Barn was executed during 1893 and exhibited in Milan in 1894, and partly taken up again between 1895 and 1896. Along with Procession, an almost contemporary work, On the Barn was the first painting in which Pellizza sought to meticulously apply pointillism and reveals a scrupulous attention to the real. The painter himself, aware of the importance of this work in his creative process, pointed to it as the beginning of his new pictorial phase, attentive to social themes and able to establish a more stringent relationship with the real through the use of the new technique: he could thus effectively communicate with new and scientifically exact techniques his way of feeling and posing towards the real (and the gold medal he won in Munich in 1901 confirmed Pellizza’s confidence in his work).

The exhibition, curated by Aurora Scotti, a scholar of Pellizza’s work for many years and author of the general catalog of the painter from Alessandria, and the Pellizza da Volpedo Association, also offers the opportunity to compare the views of the painter’s hometown realized on the painting with the physical ones: the barn painted by the artist is moreover still in existence and is located a few steps away from the painter’s studio, which is now the exhibition venue as well as the venue of the exhibition. The exhibition is organized by the Maspes Galleries in Milan, under the patronage of the Municipality of Volpedo.

Accompanying the exhibition, which, as mentioned, takes place at the Studio of Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo at Via Rosano 1/A, is a catalog Edizioni Gallerie Maspes containing an introductory essay by the curator and a series of insights into the critical fortunes of thework, which has remained in a private collection for more than a century and is therefore rarely seen, on the literary/artistic debate developed from the painting’s theme, on Giuseppe Pellizza’s relationship with Volpedo’s places, and on the results of non-invasive diagnostic investigations and restoration, which will better understand the painting’s creativeprocess and realization.

The exhibition opens Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon and 3 to 7 p.m. Admission is free. More information can be found at www.pellizza.it.

Pictured: Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, On the Barn (oil on canvas, 133 x 243.5 cm; Private collection)

An exhibition on Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo in his hometown brings Sul fienile back to the place where he was conceived

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