Marino Marini

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York (acquired from the artist)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Marini. Sculpture, Paintings, 1958, no. 23, illustrated in the catalogue
Pistoia, Convento del Tau, Marino pittore, 1987, no. 58, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Aosta, Museo Archeologico Regionale, Marino Marini, 2003, no. 4, illustrated in the catalogue

Franco Russoli, Marino Marini - pitture e disegni, Milan, 1963, no. 163, illustrated
Patrick Waldberg, Herbert Read & Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, Marino Marini, Complete Works, New York, 1970, no. 82, illustrated p. 406
Erich Steingräber & Lorenzo Papi, Marino Marini pittore, Turin, 1987, no. 135, illustrated p. 68

Marino Marini's images of horses, riders and circus performers are characterised by a mixture of playfulness and pathos. Here, the figure of the horse set against a bright background is captured in a series of quick brushstrokes that emphasise the liveliness of the composition. Echoing the images of horses and acrobats found in Picasso's Rose period paintings, this theme was also associated in Marini's mind with the equestrian imagery used in art through the centuries. In Composizione con cavallo verde, the image of a single horse acquires a distinctive timeless quality Marini looked for in all his work.

In the present painting, the overlapping layers of paint give the surface the variety of texture similar to that found in Marini's sculpture of the same period. Fascinated by the richness of oil painting and the freedom it gave him, the artist himself commented: 'Painting is a vision of colour. Painting means entertaining the poetry of fact; and in the process of its making the fact becomes true. In colour, I looked for the beginning of each new idea. Whether one should call it painting or drawing, I do not know' (quoted in Sam Hunter, Marino Marini, The Sculpture, New York, 1993, p. 37).