Filippo de Pisis stars in Bologna with exhibition "Birth of a Painting" at CUBO

From October 18, 2024 to January 18, 2025, the Unipol Group ’s CUBO Business Museum in Bologna will host the exhibition Filippo de Pisis. Birth of a Painting, a project dedicated to the great Italian master of the 20th century, Filippo de Pisis (Ferrara, 1896 - Milan, 1956). The exhibition, curated by Ilaria Bignotti and Maddalena Tibertelli de Pisis, was created in collaboration with the Association for Filippo de Pisis, the archive and research center dedicated to the life and work of the master.

Filippo de Pisis was a refined painter and man of letters, recognized as a leading figure in the Italian artistic scene of the 20th century. His work straddles symbolism and metaphysics, with painting that expresses a profound communion between man, nature and the sensible world. The exhibition revolves around the painting Landscape, a small oil on canvas made by de Pisis in 1926, which belongs to the artistic heritage of the Unipol Group Corporate Museum. This work, which depicts a man intent on meditating in front of the grandeur of nature, reflects the painter’s interest in the relationship between humanity and the power of nature. Around this painting, the curators have selected some 15 works from the Maestro’s archives and from prestigious national collections.

An original aspect of the exhibition is the juxtaposition of the paintings with aselection of literary and poetic passages by de Pisis, taken from his diaries, notes and critical writings. These texts, elaborated at different stages of his life, from Ferrara to Rome, Paris, Venice and even during the period he spent in the Brugherio clinic, offer an intimate view of the artist, revealing a profound reflection on the motions of the human soul and psyche.

The exhibition project also aims to bring out a lesser-known side of de Pisis, that of a restless and introspective artist, capable of investigating the everyday and its emotions in a suffered but empathetic way. Many of his paintings include recurring objects and symbols, often with fascinating variations in shape and size. The exhibition explores these elements as keys to understanding the artist’s more intimate and complex side, far from the simple glitter of modern metropolises.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog reproducing all the works on display and views of the CUBO rooms, enriched by contributions from the two curators and an anthological selection of de Pisis’ writings. This project aims to offer a unique perspective on de Pisis’ artistic creation, revealing the process behind the “birth of a painting,” that is, the origin and evolution of his works, closely linked to his writing and critical thinking.

The event represents an important opportunity to discover, or rediscover, one of the greatest protagonists of 20th-century art, through an itinerary that combines painting and words, two central dimensions of Filippo de Pisis’ poetics.

“The choice,” the curators explain, “to often favor humble, everyday subjects, even forgotten or quickly swallowed up by pressing modernity - junk dealer trinkets, fish recovered under market stalls, frayed coats hanging in delabré artist’s studios, baguettes and abandoned gloves - mixing them with the great motifs of Natura Morta, such as, first and foremost, flowers in all their guises, is a way to channel the lens of attention to elements that become personifications and interpretations of the feelings of the Artist himself, undoubtedly revealing echoes of the naturalist symbolism of Giovanni Pascoli, among de Pisis’ beloved poets.”

The exhibition opens Mondays from 2 to 7 p.m., Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Closed on Sundays. Free admission.

Filippo de Pisis stars in Bologna with exhibition "Birth of a Painting" at CUBO

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