CARLO CARRÀ
(Quargnento 1881 – Milan 1966)
The Brunelleschi’s Rotonda in Florence
Oil on boarded canvas
50x33cm
Executed in 1940
Carlo Carrà was quite an eclectic painter, able to adapt his style in a period of the constantly changing culture between the 19th and 20th century, while exploring the innovative contents offered. A period in which the artistic discipline was literally overturned by the Impressionist revolution, triggering the historical avant-gardes like for example, the Futurism. This was the true starting point of the artistic career of Carlo Carrà, adhering to the “Marinetti’s Manifesto” which he underwrote in 1910. The young painter was irresistibly fascinated by technology, speed and dynamics, but a few years later he had to get in touch with reality again, due to the call for military service during the First World War. Destiny brought him to Ferrara where he met Giorgio De Chirico and his metaphysic paintings, which he shortly reinterpreted with personal twists. However, the desire of being just himself, totally redeemed from various artistic trends, brought Carrà to focus on a new experiment: the idea of identification with Nature with an inclination towards abstraction, through the painting of simple and silent contemplation of landscapes.
The isolated spots in the countryside or the desolated beaches became his favorite themes for an almost epic narration. In this cocoon-like environment, the painting transcends, becoming a mute language of isolated buildings transformed into figures by the painter. Carrà himself declared that through the art he tried to pursue the idea of “turning the landscape into poetry, full of space and dreams”. With this spirit he painted the view of the Florentine church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, better known as the “Rotonda del Brunelleschi”. Despite its urban scenery, the church is immerged into a rarefied atmosphere, dominated by an absolute silence, as if it was painted early morning. An environment completely free from signs of life, dominated by the same quietness of his rural landscapes or his silent seascapes. This, to remind us that even in a chaotic environment like the center of a city can be, it is possible to find, through internal reflection, freedom and inner peace.