Origins
Italian art has its roots in ancient Greece. From the time of the Etruscans, exchanges were already taking place with the Greek cities. Roman art was primarily concerned with serving the politics and religion of the Empire. However, wall frescoes and mosaics remained a direct legacy of Byzantine art.
The Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine in 313, allowed everyone to worship the divine in their own way. Paleochristian art came out of the catacombs and the private sphere to embellish basilicas and sanctuaries, as can be admired in Milan. In Veneto, cathedrals and museums still bear the traces of conflicts, of the successive fleeing of the rulers under the invasion of the Huns and then the Lombards. The conversion of the latter paved the way for architectural and sculptural innovations in northern Italy, while the Byzantine heritage moved to Venice. At the dawn of the Middle Ages, Northern Italy remained a place of rich exchange.Gothic
Milan, the first capital of the Western Roman Empire, became one of the largest active centres in the Christian world. Gothic art, which originated in France in the 12th century, spread to the region under the Viscontis. The transalpine influence can be seen in the elegant style of Giacomo Jacquerio who signed the frescoes of the Abbey of Sant'Antonio di Ranverso (Turin).
The major work inherited from the Italian Gothic style is undoubtedly the cathedral of Milan.Renaissance
The great princely families dominated the Italian cities. Patronage was in full swing: the Medici in Florence, the Visconti and then the Sforza in Milan from 1447.
The Quattrocento includes Masaccio, the inventor of the single vanishing point, who focused his work on perspective, volumes and proportions, and Brunelleschi, the architect of the first dome in Florence.
The Renaissance was characterized by changes that revolutionized medieval canons. The Sforzas, and especially Ludovico the More, surrounded themselves with the most famous talents. Leonardo da Vinci, named "pictor ducalis" (painter to the Duke), stayed in Milan for twenty years from 1482 to 1499 and then from 1506 to 1513. He worked for a long time at the Sforza castle. In the courtyard, you can see his restored fresco of the mulberry tree room. Twenty minutes from the castle is the Last Supper
, painted by Leonardo in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In this decisive period of openness to the world and to knowledge, religious art was shaken up. Reflecting the secularization of society, the plastic arts turned to profane subjects.Baroque
This movement was born in the 16th century as a reaction to the Protestant reformation. In contrast to rigour, the artists opposed exaggeration and contrast in both painting and sculpture. The three major figures of this movement were the architect Borromini, the sculptor Bernini and the painter Caravaggio. Caravaggio, born near Milan, combined a sense of drama with the most striking realism, particularly through the use of luminous contrasts. In Milan, his works can be seen at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. Forced to flee Rome, Caravaggio painted the second version of The Supper at Emmaus
, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera, a much darker version than the first.Northern Italy, Venice, Turin, and Genoa would be greatly affected by the Baroque style until the 18th century.
After a neoclassical period, Romanticism spread throughout Europe. Passion and irrationality, but also the struggle between man and nature are its characteristics. This period corresponds to the Austrian occupation which lasts until the Five Days' Revolution in Milan.Futurism
Founded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, this twentieth-century trend echoes modernism. Speed, war and the city are the main themes. In this respect, Futurism is an urban art, anchored in Milan by the founding manifesto of the movement. The imaginary cities or the stylized displacement of machines with bright colors are painted by Sant'Elia, Balla, Cara or Russolo. Futurism then flourished in Russia. In 1915, in reaction against Futurism, Giorgio De Chirico founded metaphysical painting, which prefigured Surrealism.
Most of the Futurist works remain in Milan, notably at the CIMAC, which shows Italian art of the 20th century through Boccioni but also brings together De Chirico and the Surrealists Giorgio Morandi and Filippo de Pisis.Contemporary
Turin has been the capital of contemporary art since the 1960s with the birth of Arte Povera. Alghiero Boetti, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Giuseppe Penone and Mario Merz used poor materials to challenge the consumer society
From then on, the whole of Northern Italy showed its attachment to contemporary art. Innovative venues are being created: the open-air museum Arte Sella offers exhibitions based on natural materials. The Padiglione Arte Contemporanea hosts international artists, while the Museion in Bolzano brings together the avant-garde, including stars of photography (Nan Goldin). The Italian photography centre in Turin, Camera, promotes Italian and international artists.
In Turin, it is not uncommon to come across street art: in the area of the train station, the portrait by VHIL near Piazza Nizza; the giant bear by Bordalo II near the Teatro Colosseo; at the bus terminal in via Fiochetto, look out for the fresco by Ericalcaine and the one by ROA In the Barriera de Milano district, Millo painted 13 walls. The Museo d'Arte urbana is organizing an open-air tour of 180 works scattered around the Campidoglio district
Among the impressive variety of Turin's art galleries, three addresses stand out. The Franco Noero Gallery presents stars of contemporary art from around the world (Sam Falls, Francesco Vezzoli, etc.) in its two spaces: one in the industrial style of Barriera, and a second housed in a sublime 18th-century building. Established at the end of the 1990s, the Guido Costa Project gallery defends Boris Mikhailov and Miroslav Tichy alongside the younger generation of Italian artists. The daughter of the painter Salvo Mangione runs the Norma Mangione Gallery to promote young talent. It is fair to say that she knows how to spot the rising stars!
