Mimmo Paladino

Galerie Mazzoli, Milan

Galerie Thomas, Munich (acquired from the above by 1983)

Acquired in 2024 by the present owner

Munich, Galerie Thomas, Paladino bei Thomas, February - March 1984, p. 12, illustrated in colour

Trier, Europäische Akademie für bildende Kunst, August - September 1984, n.p.

Neuss, Kulturamt der Stadt, Bilder der 80er Jahre aus der Sammlung Thomas, December 1984 - January 1985, n.p.

Wiesbaden, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Italienische Malerei der 80er Jahre. Chia, Clemente, Cucchi, de Maria, Paladino aus der Sammlung Thomas, March - April 1985, n.p.

Munich, A11 Art Forum Thomas; Darmstadt, Mathildenhöhe and Ljubljana, Moderne Galerije; Linz, Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Sammlung Thomas. Kunst aus den achtiziger Jahren, 1987 - 1988, p. 15, illustrated in colour

• Early work from the formative years of Paladino’s Transavanguardia practice, painted shortly after his breakthrough at the 1980 Venice Biennale
• Visually rich and symbolically layered, combining mythological and cosmic motifs with a striking use of color
• The painting marks a pivotal moment in postwar Italian painting

“The artist’s identification with his work, as we know, is an archetypal drive motivated by the desire to live on through his own creation: the aspiration to immortality is universal and so deep-rooted that our unconscious refuses the possibility of death.”

(Exh. Cat., Naples, Museo Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, Paladino a Napoli, December 1995 - March 1996, p. 23)

Mimmo Paladino rose to prominence in the late 1970s as a key figure in the Transavanguardia movement - a group of Italian artists who reasserted painting as a central artistic medium after a decade shaped by conceptual and minimalist approaches. Alongside Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi, Paladino developed a distinctive style that drew on symbolic imagery and historical references.

Painted in 1982, Orto dei Pianeti (Garden of the Planets) is a striking example of Paladino’s early work. The title suggests a poetic space, hinting at themes of nature, mythology, and the cosmos. At the centre of the composition appears an archaic, black figure, set against a vividly layered background in earthy reds, oranges and greens. Across this richly textured surface, fantastical, animal-like forms begin to emerge - creatures of ambiguous shape that add a sense of mysterious depth. Deliberately embracing ambiguity, the work evokes a sense of both antiquity and timelessness. The painting thus combines abstract and figurative elements in a spatial arrangement that invites open interpretation.

Paladino’s paintings from this period have been widely exhibited, including at the 1980 Venice Biennale and in major solo exhibitions across Europe and the United States. Orto dei Pianeti reflects the key ideas that defined his early practice and offers a compelling insight into the foundational years of his career.