Radikales Licht

Pressetext.

This exhibition will explore the complex relationship between Italian Divisionism and the emerging Futurist movement in the early years of the 20th century. It is the first of its kind organised outside Italy.

Centred in Milan, Divisionism is arguably the most significant art movement to emerge in Italy during the last decades of the 19th century.

Dissatisfaction with modern civilization led these artists to explore Symbolism in their paintings. Their aim was to represent political concerns and make their art into an instrument for social change.

The movement also sprang from research into optics and the physics of light. Inspired by French developments with pointillism, and fuelled by a desire to increase the luminosity and brilliance of their paintings, artists developed new techniques applying paint in a variety of dots and strokes.

This exhibition will feature around 60 paintings, including works by the main protagonists of Divisionism: Vittore Grubicy de Dragon, Giovanni Segantini and Gaetano Previati. It will also display works by the Futurist artists Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini.

Radical Light is a unique opportunity to explore a lesser-known, yet undoubtedly important, movement – while offering a link to the National Gallery’s great historical collections of Italian art.

'Radical Light' is jointly organised with the Kunsthaus Zürich.

Radikales Licht
Divisionismus in Italien 1891-1910

mit Vittore Grubicy de Dragon, Giovanni Segantini, Gaetano Previati, Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini ...