Gaetano Pesce's Suffering Majesty donated to Ferrara: it is a metaphor for violence against women

In the area in front of Ferrara Fiere congressi will be placed the Suffering Majesty created by renowned sculptor, designer and architect Gaetano Pesce. The work was donated by the author to the Ferrara Municipal Administration. The council has already given the go-ahead for the acquisition, and on Monday, March 8, the work will be unveiled in the presence of Mayor Alan Fabbri, Ferrara Arte president Vittorio Sgarbi, Ferrara Municipal Theater Foundation president Michele Placido, deputy mayor Nicola Lodi, and culture councillor Marco Gulinelli.

The Suffering Majesty is estimated by the artist to be worth 300,000 euros and represents an"armchair with female features,“ ”pierced by 400 arrows,“ ”with a ball rest connected to it by a chain." Eight meters high, it weighs about four tons and is surrounded by six sculptures depicting fierce animals, such as a lion, an alligator, a tiger, a hyena, a cobra, and a wolf, each averaging four meters in height.

The installation "represents a metaphor for violence against women,“ according to the resolution, and expresses ”a strong message of denunciation at a time when there are so many cases of feminicide in the world and in Italy.“ The beasts surrounding the work represent, according to the author, ”the cruelty of man."

After the donation and acquisition, the work will be included in the collection inventory of the Art Museums Service, Galleries of Modern and Contemporary Art.

It had been exhibited in April 2019 in Milan’s Piazza Duomo on the occasion of Design Week (the work reproduces in giant form the famous Up5&6 armchair made by Gaetano Pesce in 1969) and had been highly criticized by feminist movements because it linked women to the idea of a piece of furniture, in this case an armchair, and because a female body was represented as a victim and not a winner.

Pictured is the work installed in Piazza Duomo in Milan.

Gaetano Pesce's Suffering Majesty donated to Ferrara: it is a metaphor for violence against women

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