Francesco De Grandi on display at the Galleria Civica di Trento

The Galleria Civica di Trento dedicating a monographic exhibition to artist Francesco De Grandi, among the central figures in the Italian and European painting scene. De Grandi's pictorial research addresses the points of contact between the study of nature and the feeling of the sacred. His art, narrative, figurative, dreamlike, finds in the archetypal motifs of art history a path of knowledge and a way of spiritual elevation, in an almost meditative form of painting.

The title of the exhibition is taken from Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, published in several editions between 1883 and 1885, one of the most influential and complex texts in contemporary philosophy. In the chapter entitled The Sacrifice of Honey, Zarathustra explores the concept of sacrifice and its relation to moral and spiritual values: such sacrifice represents, in a symbolic way, the renunciation of something sweet and desirable for a higher ideal. Honey, a symbol of pleasure and sensory satisfaction, becomes a metaphor for all that is immediately gratifying but can be set aside and overcome on the path to a more authentic and conscious life.

For the artist, this passage becomes a metaphor for a certain way of understanding painting: not an escape route to abstract oneself from reality, but a tool to get one's hands dirty with it, to present the reality of those on the margins of society.

In the exhibition, a wide selection of more than 20 canvases and 50 drawings give an account of the last decade of the artist's production, following the double track of monumental works, celebrated and proposed in important solo and group exhibitions, alongside the lesser-known and sometimes unpublished graphic production.
A central work in the exhibition is Medea in the Garden of Colchis (2023):De Grandi narrates the events before the climax of the tragedy, showing us what Euripides did not tell us. Before the guilt and before the betrayal, a child Medea wanders in the garden of her kingdom, in that remote, archaic and mysterious region at the edge of the Greek world.

A site-specific intervention completes the exhibition.The artist presents a personal philosophical reflection, written in her fist but employing her left hand: an unnatural exercise that causes an uncertain and trembling advance of the letters, in open contrast to the strength of the written message.

Francesco De Grandi.
Il sacrificio del miele
From an idea by Vittorio Sgarbi. Curated by Gabriele Lorenzoni
from Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024 | to Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025
Full price €2
Galleria Civica di Trento