1. Before Futurism

The exhibition opens with an overview of visual culture in Milan at the end of the 19th century. We therefore encounter the nocturnal, visionary Symbolism – in the “Nordic” vein – of Alberto Martini, Romolo Romani and Luigi Russolo, and the sculpture of Medardo Rosso, creator of forms dematerialized by the light. We also find the more mystical Symbolism of Gaetano Previati, and the socially-committed art of Pellizza da Volpedo. And in this opening section we meet the five signees of the painting manifestos of 1910: Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini who all embraced strands of Divisionism in that period: as they themselves wrote, “Painting cannot exist without Divisionism”.

LUIGI RUSSOLO, Autoritratto con teschi, 1909

Olio su tela; 67x50 cm

Milano, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte, Museo del Novecento

© Comune di Milano - tutti i diritti di legge riservati

GIOVANNI SEGNATINI, Ritorno al paese natio, 1895 

Olio su tela; 60x125 cm - Milano, Galleria d’Arte Moderna

MEDARDO ROSSO, La portinaia, 1883 c.a

Cera; 38,5x34,5x21 cm - Milano, Galleria d’Arte Moderna

© Foto Oscar Ferrari