Giorgio Morandi: Still Life & Landscape Paintings II

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Giorgio Morandi (Italian, 1890–1964)

Photo taken by Antonio Masotti in 1961.

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Giorgio Morandi is one of the most admired Italian painters of the twentieth century, known for his subtle and contemplative paintings, largely of still lives.  [Source]

Still Life, Oil on canvas

Giorgio Morandi

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From the Metaphysical paintings of his early years, to the nearly abstract canvases made in the 1960s, Morandi engaged in a lifelong attempt to seize reality through the familiar. The consistency and intensity of this investigation has made him the quintessential 'artist's artist'.  [Source]

Landscape: The courtyard outside Morandi’s studio in Via della Fondazza, Bologna.

Giorgio Morandi

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Working from his studio in Bologna, a place he rarely left for long, Morandi used the same simple elements, including bottles, boxes, and the view from his window, staging a seemingly endless array of variations.  [Source]

Still Life, Oil on canvas

Giorgio Morandi

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 His paintings appear to transcend time and place, an effect he achieved by removing labels from his bottles, faces from his clocks, and people from his landscapes.   [Source]

Landscape, 1928

Giorgio Morandi

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In fact, many of Morandi's works can be read as arrangements of pure form. The subtle variations of these late works demonstrate Morandi's capacity for discovering immense complexity within the self-imposed limitations of his practice. [Source]

Still Life, Oil on canvas

Giorgio Morandi

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Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna on 20 July 1890. After his father died, the family moved to an old house at via Fondazza 36. Morandi lived here for the rest of his life, with his mother and his three sisters. He worked and slept in a single room, surrounded by the simple, dust-laden objects he used in his paintings.  [Source]

Landscape, 1936

Giorgio Morandi

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From 1907-13 Morandi studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna and travelled around Italy to study Renaissance art. He took part in a group exhibition with the Futurists, but the association was short-lived. When Italy entered the First World War, Morandi enlisted but suffered a breakdown and was discharged.  [Source]

 

  
Still Life, Oil on Canvas

Giorgio Morandi

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He taught drawing in elementary schools from 1916-29. During this period he was briefly associated with Metaphysical Painting, a movement typified by the enigmatic still lifes of Giorgio de Chirico. After Mussolini came to power, Morandi also exhibited with the semi-official Novecento group. However, his closest ties were with the rustic Strapaese movement, which advocated a return to local cultural traditions. In 1930 Morandi became Professor of Etching at the Accademia di Belle Arti, and his works began to be shown abroad.  [Source]

 

Landscape, 1940

Giorgio Morandi

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Morandi emerged to international acclaim after the Second World War. He received the first prize for painting at the 1948 Venice Biennale, rapidly becoming one of the most respected Italian painters. However, he appeared to shrug off the attention, commenting 'I don't ask for anything except for a bit of peace which is indispensable for me to work.'  [Source]

 

Landscape, 1943

Giorgio Morandi

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In 1956, Morandi travelled outside Italy for the first time. After retiring from the Accademia in the same year, he achieved a new concentration in his work.  He won the Grand Prize at the São Paulo Biennale in 1957.  The esteem in which Morandi was held in Italy is reflected in Federico Fellini's film La Dolce Vita (1960), in which his paintings are featured as the epitome of cultural sophistication.  By this time, however, Morandi had withdrawn to work at his studio at Grizzana.  He died in Bologna on 18 June 1964.  [Source]

Landscape, 1958

Giorgio Morandi

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