LONDON.- Robilant+Voena are presenting an exhibition of paintings by Giorgio Morandi (Bologna, 1890-1964) on view at their London gallery from 7 June to 28 July 2017. This is the second exhibition at the gallery dedicated to the celebrated Italian artist, following the successful 2011 show. The exhibition includes works the artist realised between the 1940s and 1960s, bringing together a selection of four landscapes, seven still lifes and one watercolour.

Giorgio Morandi is known primarily for his subtle and contemplative paintings, which he produced with determined consistency by remaining dedicated to a specific repertoire of subjects. Over the course of an extensive and prolific career, Morandi worked almost exclusively in series, concentrating on the production of still lifes and landscapes, constantly making use of the same recognisable subject-objects: bottles, shells, jugs, boxes and flowers or the same landscape and urban scenes: economical views of the countryside near Bologna or of the courtyard of his house on Via Fondazza. However, underneath the simplicity of his silent, meditative and repetitive compositions and the obsessive exploration of a single subject lay a great complexity and richness of meaning. Through the expressiveness that he could extract from subtle shifts in colour, the variety he could wrest from adjustments of scale and the poetry he could find in apparently minute changes, Morandi was able to seize reality through the familiar.

Included in this exhibition are four landscapes realised between 1942 and 1963 which are indicative of the process of increasing simplification and economy of subject-matter, colour and line that Morandi achieved throughout his career. Also included in the exhibition are three flower paintings. In common with the still lifes these small paintings demonstrate a reduction of the subject to a minimum, in order to abstract the superfluous and to allow for the emergence of the essence of things. One painting in the show (Natura morta, 1943) depicts two shells and is characterised by a monochromatic muted tonality that creates an especially sombre and reflective mood. This reflects the traumatic effects that the Second World War had on Morandi. Further to these works there will also be three more recognisable object-compositions. In these paintings, Morandi creates volume through the interaction of colour and light and as a result, the objects are imbued with a dramatic material quality – their presence on the canvas is almost spectral, pervaded by peaceful and austere solemnity.

At first glance, Morandi’s objects appear to be the detritus of domesticity, a collection of things once in daily use. However, the everyday objects become subjects of contemplation, a vessel for the viewer's own imagination. The artist’s desire to transform the intimate into the monumental and through the continuous sublimation of everyday objects into pure volumes and colours Morandi found them a place outside of time in order to capture their very essence.