SOLE D’AUTUNNO The Rediscovered Masterpiece

Sole d’autunno.
The Rediscovered Masterpiece

Exhibition Project curated by Niccolò D’Agati”

Exhibited for the last time in 1954, Sole d’Autunno [Autumn Sun], first presented by Segantini at the 1887 National Exhibition in Venice, represents one of the most experimental outcomes of Segantini’s painting at the beginning of his time in the canton of Graubünden, near Savognin. It should be understood in continuity with the results achieved in his final work from the Brianza region, Alla Stanga (1885-1886, Rome, National Gallery of Modern Art). The canvas was developed by the painter at a time when – spurred by the reflections of Vittore Grubicy – he was experimenting with an initial, instinctive, and non-systematic application of divisionist brushwork in Ave Maria at Transbordo.

The first years in Graubünden undoubtedly constitute a period of profound technical and linguistic reflection for Segantini, during which he consciously deepened both his search for a solid construction of brushstrokes and, as a consequence, a more insistent emphasis on the light and tonal qualities of color studied directly from nature. The work stands out, upon direct observation, for the extreme articulation of its pictorial surface, marked by the material emphasis of the brushstroke, now more substantial, now more elongated. The canvas is based on subtle chromatic variations, achieved through an extremely careful use of colors, freed from the conventional twilight palette of the earlier works from the Brianza period, and now directed toward a more precise rendering of chromatic and luministic values – with a free application of impasto techniques and pure colors – studied directly from life as part of a reflection on the role of light as a fundamental and structuring element of the work.

In a letter to the critic and his admirer Tumiati in 1898, Segantini himself retraced the stages of his artistic journey, describing the painting as the first moment in the path that defined his new style: ‘With this interlude, I began the second period of my work, moving to the Alps of Graubünden in Savognin. Here my art took on the character it still retains today. That mysterious divisionism of colors you see in my work is nothing but a natural search for light. Here my spirit was filled with great joy, my eyes would become enraptured by the blue of the sky, the tender green of the meadows, and I looked at the superb mountain ranges with the hope of conquering them. Beginning to calculate color as harmonic beauty, I began to study animal paintings, as the area was very dedicated to pastoral life, and composed the following works: Autunno (Vacca bianca) […]’ (B.Segantini, Scritti e lettere di G. Segantini, Bocca, Torino 1910, p. 104).

On the occasion of the acquisition of the painting Sole d’Autunno, the Galleria Civica Giovanni Segantini of Arco intends to present the Segantini masterpiece to the public within the context of a new exhibition layout that highlights its centrality in the painter’s artistic journey, as well as its crucial role in the evolution of Segantini’s experimentation between the Brianza period and the more intense phase of his activity after his move to Graubünden. It marks a period when a renewed sense of color and light emerged as a fundamental core for a new aesthetic conception.

In this context, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Segantini’s passing, the Gallery aims to focus on the continuous bond that the city of Arco has always maintained with the memory of the painter, starting with the commission of the monument to Leonardo Bistolfi, and which is today renewed with the acquisition of a work finally returned to the public and visible after seventy years since its last exhibition.