The Fundación Juan March opens today the show devoted to Giuseppe Arcimboldo (Milan, 1527-1593) and the magnificent oils Flora (1589) and Flora meretrix (1590), from private collections and never before shown to the public. Until 2 March 2014, visitors can see this very special exhibition, which also comes with the lectures Efecto Arcimboldo and Arcimboldo y Flora, on 25 and 27 February respectively, given by Miguel Falomir, head of the Department of Italian and French Painting (up to 1700) at the Museo Nacional del Prado and author of the main text in the publication accompanying the show (an essay published in the exhibition catalogue, read an extract here).
As Miguel Falomir rightly reminds us in his essay, the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo was admired and popular in his own day, but fell into oblivion after his death until, at the beginning of the 20th century, it resurfaced in the exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism, in which Alfred H. Barr Jr., founder and first director of the MoMA in New York, set out to reclaim the importance of his figure in the art world and singled him out as the forerunner of Surrealism and Dadaism, an inspiration for Dalí and other artists of the avant-garde movement of the early years of the last century.
An essay on the frames, which are not the original ones but date from the 1960s and were designed by Federico Zedi, since the 16th century frames could not be preserved, also appears in the exhibition catalogue (read an extract here). Lynn Roberts and Paul Mitchell, authors of the book A History of European Picture Frames (1998), make their contribution to the show with this essay on the frames that accompany the two artworks and that extend the flora and fauna that marked his style and make this great master recognisable and unique in the eyes of the public.
More information:Fundación Juan March
From 31 January to 2 March 2014
If anyone is in Madrid and visits the show, don't hesitate to leave us more information or your impressions of it in the comments. Enjoy it, but don't forget to share it with us! :)
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