A new Boccioni purchased by the Pinacoteca del Divisionismo in Tortona.

The Pinacoteca del Divisionismo in Tortona expands its holdings with an acquisition: Maestra di scena. Portrait of Signora Adalgisa Maffi, a 1910 work by Umberto Boccioni (Reggio Calabria, 1882 - Verona, 1916). The painting, crucial in the artist’s career, will be exhibited starting in June, alongside another recent acquisition, Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo’s The Way of the Workers. The announcement confirms the Pinacoteca’s central role in the study and enhancement of Divisionism, consolidating its prestige in the Italian museum scene. Boccioni’s work, exhibited in 1910 at his solo show at Ca’ Pesaro, represents a fundamental stage in his artistic evolution. The figure of Maestra di scena Adalgisa Maffi emerges with great expressive force thanks to the Divisionist technique, enriched by references to Northern Expressionism and Gaetano Previati’s luministic research.

The entry of Maestra di scena into the permanent collection follows the acquisition of Il cammino dei Lavoratori, a preparatory study for the famous Quarto Stato. With these two masterpieces, the museum enriches its exhibition itinerary, offering the public a broader view of the evolution of pointillism and its influence on the twentieth-century avant-garde. The official presentation to the Italian press will take place on Thursday, June 5.

A key work in Boccioni’s journey

Created in 1910, Maestra di scena marks Boccioni’s transition from pointillism to early expressionist and futurist strains. The painting reveals an extraordinary fusion of Divisionist technique and intense expressive research. The use of color and light defines a close, incisive composition that emphasizes the plastic power of the figure.

The painting is placed at a turning point in Boccioni’s career, when pointillism was transformed into a language capable of conveying dynamism and emotional tension. Previati’s influence is evident in the luministic construction of the image, while the treatment of the face and gaze recalls expressionist suggestions à la Munch.

Pellizza da Volpedo and the Path to the Fourth Estate.

Alongside Boccioni’s painting, the Pinacoteca recently welcomed Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo’s Il cammino dei Lavoratori (The Workers’ Walk), created between 1898 and 1899. The work, conceived as a study for the monumental Fourth Estate, restores the social tension of the time with extraordinary power.

The figures, squeezed into a compact forward movement, advance toward a light that symbolizes hope and renewal. The skillful use of color, with ochre and warm earth tones, enhances the group’s sense of unity, giving the scene an intense narrative force.

Although it is a preparatory study, The Way of the Workers stands out as an autonomous work, capable of evoking Pellizza’s symbolic vision with immediacy.

The exhibition itinerary of the Pinacoteca

Located in Tortona, the Pinacoteca del Divisionismo houses more than 145 works by the main exponents of this movement. The museum is configured as a point of reference for the study of the different declinations of Divisionist technique, from Symbolism to social painting to the luministic research that influenced Futurism.

The layout, renovated according to modern museum criteria, allows visitors to follow the evolutionary path of Divisionism through thematic rooms dedicated to its protagonists and the various declinations of the movement. Among the artists in the collection are Segantini, Morbelli, Longoni, Nomellini, Previati and Balla. A particularly important nucleus is that of the works of Pellizza da Volpedo, of whom the Pinacoteca preserves 27 works, 19 of which are on display.

The themes of pointillism

The works exhibited in the Pinacoteca cover a wide range of subjects, highlighting the many souls of Divisionism. One of the fundamental aspects of the movement is the experimentation with light and color, which finds expression in Segantini’s filamentous brushstrokes, Pellizza’s dotted drafts and Previati’s symbolist compositions. Another central dimension of pointillism is its social engagement. Many artists devoted themselves to depicting the living conditions of the weaker classes, developing a social verism that anticipated the civil commitment painting of the twentieth century. Morbelli, Longoni and Pellizza himself documented working-class and peasant reality with works that denounced the precariousness of life in the humbler classes.

Divisionism is also distinguished by its ability to explore the landscape with a new sensibility. Alpine views, sea sunsets and country scenes are treated with a luministic attention that anticipates some Futurist research. Balla and Boccioni, in fact, would use pointillism as a springboard to develop their dynamic and visionary language. Beginning in the 1890s, pointillism also opened up to Symbolist suggestions, investigating mystical and allegorical themes. In this phase, Previati and Pellizza develop a pictorial language capable of translating spiritual visions into striking images.

A new Boccioni purchased by the Pinacoteca del Divisionismo in Tortona.

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