Renato Guttuso's Vucciria goes on the road in Rome

One of Renato Guttuso’s most famous masterpieces, La Vucciria, housed in the Monumental Complex of Palazzo Chiaramonte - Steri, home of the Rectorate of the University of Palermo, will be exhibited from Nov. 29, 2019 to Jan. 12, 2020 in the Sala della Lupa of Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome.

The monumental 3-meter work created by the artist in 1974, thus at the height of his artistic maturity, was donated by Guttuso himself to theUniversity of Palermo. The Vucciria depicts a scene of daily life, in one of Palermo’s best-known markets; characteristic is the raw and bloody realism of the meat displayed in the famous market. The dynamism of the composition is accentuated by the asymmetry of the elements: the urban layout of Palermo’s historic center is reminiscent of the Arab model.

The term “vucciria” derives from the French boucherie, butcher’s shop in Italian, then Italianized into bocceria and finally Sicilianized to be used today with the meaning of confusion, that incomprehensible mixture of voices, people, objects, and expressions.
The viewer of the painting is fascinated by the “vucciria” of people and merchandise; one notices the passersby crossing each other in this large influx of people. The only visible space between the goods is a small portion of the ground at the feet of the woman in the foreground: this further emphasizes the abundance of the elements.

The exhibition is sponsored by theUniversity of Palermo and the Sicily Foundation and is intended to be an important moment of enhancement and promotion of Sicily’s cultural heritage, as well as the beginning of a series of events dedicated to the Italian regions.

Image: Renato Guttuso, La Vucciria (1974; oil on canvas, 300 x 300 cm; Palermo, Complesso Monumentale dello Steri)

Renato Guttuso's Vucciria goes on the road in Rome

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