Morandi art exhibition builds bridge between China, Italy

陈小将

A Giorgio Morandi art exhibition, on display in the Dafen Art Museum in the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen from Feb 25 to March 28, is providing China's art enthusiasts the opportunity to appreciate the work of the late Italian artist.

A total of 46 works by Morandi are on display, including oil paintings, sketches and prints. The exhibition has received widespread attention due to the great popularity of the artist, attracting streams of visitors to the gallery.

"Morandi colors" is a term used in the design aesthetics industry to describe colors with a grayish tone in the unique style of the Italian painter.

Morandi is known today for his small-scale still life and landscape paintings with intense personal characteristics. He excelled at infusing the restraint of his personality into his still life paintings, and at capturing the seemingly ordinary scenery outside his window on canvas, allowing people to experience the eternal when viewing his work.

Visitors to the exhibition are also experiencing a dialogue between Italian art and Chinese philosophy, said Wu Yuhang, a project director in the Dafen oil painting village. Morandi is considered to have been a Western painter with an Eastern spirit. His ethos of finding the true essence of art in ordinary objects echoes the ethos of the Chinese literati painters.

The exhibition pays tribute to this Italian master, Wu said. The introspection, the elegance of feeling, and the delicate and harmonious colors of Morandi's art will bring a unique experience to Eastern audiences, and the collision of two cultural traditions will inspire different dialectical thinking, providing an opportunity to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Italy and China, Wu added.