In Bologna, the art of Silvia Bächli in dialogue with that of Giorgio Morandi

From January 22 to March 30, 2025, the Museo Morandi of the Bologna Civic Museums Sector will host an exhibition curated by Lorenzo Balbi, before by Silvia Bächli (Baden, 1956), an internationally renowned Swiss artist known for her refined explorations in drawing. Organized in collaboration with Galleria Raffaella Cortese of Milan-Albisola, the exhibition is part of the program of ART CITY Bologna 2025, the set of cultural events that accompanies Arte Fiera. The exhibition represents a dialogue between Bächli’s essential and poetic language and the works of Giorgio Morandi, creating a narrative that interweaves past and present.

The opening will take place on January 21 from 5 to 7 p.m., marking the beginning of an exhibition path capable of relating two poetics that are apparently distant but deeply connected.

The meaning of “before”

The title before recalls a crucial phase in Bächli’s creative process, which shares with Morandi a special attention to the moment of preparation. If the Bolognese master, with his rough pigments and pencil traces on the table, devoted great care to the arrangement of his actors-bottles and everyday objects-before fixing a composition, Bächli follows a similar path. The Swiss artist moves, observes and recomposes elements in space, looking for the right balance before finalizing the drawing.

This processual dimension, seemingly invisible, emerges as a key element in the exhibition, where works by Morandi selected from the permanent collection dialogue with Bächli’s unpublished works, created especially for the occasion.

Chromatic and formal affinities

Bächli’s approach, characterized by a minimalism that enhances the empty and the full, resonates with the suspended and meditative atmospheres of Morandi’s still lifes. During a visit to Casa Morandi, Bächli was struck by the chromatic richness hidden in the Bolognese master’s paintings: beneath the apparent simplicity of pale tones lie vibrant details, such as a bright green on an edge or a blue bathed in a brown shadow.

This discovery profoundly influenced the works the artist created for the exhibition, creating color fields that evoke the delicacy and intensity of Morandi’s colors. The selection of hues reflects a search for balance between vibrant and neutral nuances, emphasizing details that transform visual silence into a sensory experience.

The connection between the two artists is not limited to the chromatic dimension. This year, Silvia Bächli reached the same age that Morandi was in 1959, the year in which he made some of his best-known still lifes. This biographical parallel amplifies the sense of temporal and human continuity that runs through the exhibition.

Through a discreet but intense comparison, before highlights the points of contact between two seemingly distant artistic practices: formal simplicity and emotional depth, attention to detail and the ability to evoke the essential.

Notes on the artist

Born in Baden, Switzerland, in 1956, Silvia Bächli lives and works in Basel. Her research focuses on drawing, with works made on sheets of white paper using different techniques, including Indian ink, gouache and pastels. The body and its movements are the starting point of her practice, which develops into a fragmented but emotionally engaging narrative.

Bächli’s works have been shown in major solo and group exhibitions in Europe and the United States. He represented Switzerland at the 53rd International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2009, and his works are part of the collections of prestigious museums such as MoMA in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Kunstmuseum in Basel.

In Bologna, the art of Silvia Bächli in dialogue with that of Giorgio Morandi

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