Massimo Campigli

From the late 1930s onwards Campigli executed several paintings on the subject of the theatre, a theme that provided an ideal platform for the artist's fascination with Etruscan art. In its forms as well as in the work of the ancient Egyptians, Campigli found an archaic vocabulary of expression that enabled him to marry the pictorial language of the avant-garde with a figurative approach to painting. The influence of past cultures is beautifully presented in the Venetian Theatre Scene: its flat, frontal depiction of the set design is reminiscent of Byzantine mosaics and frescoes. The earthy palette of subdued tones of ochre, orange and brown further evokes the technique of fresco painting. On the other hand, the use of registers, clearly separating the figures into separate planes, is derived from Egyptian wall painting, which Campigli admired for its precisely delineated, geometrical style and for its conceptual approach to reality.  

It is clear that the artist was primarily preoccupied by achieving a formal harmony of composition, constructing his painting out of carefully balanced straight and curving lines: 'I take great care over the composition of a painting. I make sure that the contours flow harmoniously. I want the painting to arrive at a perfection of its own, I mean, that perfection which each painting imposes on itself. I want the painting to satisfy both the senses and the spirit, so as to be able to live peacefully with it. I want it to capture the eye of the spectator ad accompany him around the painting, in its straight lines, curves and the corresponding corners from point to counterpoint' (Massimo Campigli, in Campigli (exhibition catalogue), Galleria Marescalchi, Bologna, 1992, p. 43).