Giorgio Morandi

Lamberto Vitali, Milan (acquired from the artist and until 1983)
Prof. Balducci, Florence
Galleria Pieter Coray, Lugano
Acquired directly from the above in 1984

Winterthur, Kunstmuseum, Giorgio Morandi - Giacomo Manzù, 1956, no. 37 (as dating from 1947)

Lamberto Vitali, Giorgio Morandi, catalogo generale, dipinti, Milan, 1977, vol. I, no. 524, illustrated

The canvas is unlined and there is no evidence of retoucing under ultra-violet light. This work is in very good original condition. Colours: In comparison to the printed catalogue illustration, the background has a slightly less yellow and more subtle tonality, and the colours are overall fresher and more contrasted in the original.
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The present work is a brilliant example of Morandi's mastery of the subject of still-life, and a painterly virtuosity with which he combined the simplest forms and a nearly monochrome palette into a delicate and perfectly balanced composition. The theme of still-life, which remained central to Morandi's art throughout his career, was always guided by his concern to bring together space, light, colour and form, and his great achievement was to reconcile this traditional genre with the abstract aesthetic of his own time. Focusing his artistic efforts on a limited range of subjects, he was able to perfect these pictorial concerns to their purest expression.

 

In Natura morta of 1946, the ensemble of objects is rendered in subtle tonal variations lending them a dream-like quality, and their material presence is transformed into a composition of pure colour and form. Morandi's mastery was in rendering these common objects with a timeless elegance and grace unique to his œuvre. The sense of classical beauty and harmony in the present work is derived from the subtlety of palette, dominated by cool white and greys, as well as from the fluted shape of the tall bottle in the centre of the composition, reminiscent of antique columns.

 

Fig. 1, Morandi in his studio