A collection of works of extraordinary historical and artistic value in which Alberto Burri‘s first painting, Texas, from 1945, stands out; the collection of Lella and Fausto Bertinotti with two iconic silkscreens of Mao by Andy Warhol; and three significant masterpieces from Monica Vitti’s collection: two paintings by Giorgio de Chirico and a tempera by Giacomo Balla from the rare cycle of Iridescent Compenetrations.
For the first time on the market and with great privilege, Alberto Burri‘s first painting, Texas, 1945, estimated at € 600,000 – 800,000, executed during his internment in the Hereford concentration camp in Texas, where as a doctor Burri became a painter, will be presented. As he recounted in a well-known 1994 interview, “I used to paint all day long, it was a way of not thinking about everything around me and about the war. I did nothing but paint until the liberation. And in these years I understood that I ‘had’ to be a painter. (…) The paintings made then are as valid to me today as my latest works, neither more nor less in terms of pictorial intensity.”
Three important masterpieces come from the Monica Vitti collection: the painting by Giorgio de Chirico, Bagni Misteriosi, from 1935 oil on canvas, 69.7 x 49.7 cm, valued at €400,000 – 600,000, a pictorial translation of the Mysterious Guest, one of ten lithographs executed in 1934, for Jean Cocteau’s volume Mythologie, in which the portrayed character entering the cabin is de Chirico himself. Giorgio de Chirico‘s painting, Niobe, from 1921 tempera on canvas, 53 x 42 cm, inspired by the Master’s Florentine sojourn, who assiduously frequented the Uffizi Gallery and became infatuated with the Roman-era sculptural group of Niobids kept there, the work was later exhibited in 1921 by Pictor Optimus at his Milan solo show at the Galleria Arte. And also from the actress’s collection comes Giacomo Balla‘s highly refined work, Compenetrazione iridescente – studio per Penetrazione + spazio, dated 1912, tempera on paper, 19×26.5 cm, which features a graphite study of the same name on the verso, at auction with estimate € 65,000 80,000.
Also standing out from the Lella and Fausto Bertinotti collection are two silkscreens by Andy Warhol from the well-known series dedicated to Mao Tse Tung in 1972, valued at €20,000 to €30,000 each; several works by Piero Dorazio, donated by the Umbrian artist to his spouses on various anniversaries; a large-scale polychrome ceramic sculpture by Giosetta Fioroni; and an oil on canvas by Titina Maselli, Truck, from 1976.
Also on offer at auction will be many of the artists currently most sought after by the market, including two colorful oil compositions by Salvo, Una torre sassone from 1992 and Ora di pranzo from 2007, and an embroidery by Alighiero Boetti, Le nuove autonomie from1979, 23 x 24 cm, estimated at €60,000 to €80,000.
Information Auction: Wednesday, July 2 Exhibition: Friday, June 27 to Tuesday, July 1 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Venue: Finarte, Milan, Via dei Bossi, 2
