THE SIRONI-STRAUẞWALD DONATION

From 11 March 2023

Venice, Ca’ Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art

From 11 March, the Ca’ Pesaro permanent collection will be enlivened by a new spirit, artist Mario Sironi, in an exhibition of the Sironi-Straußwald donation. Together with his masterpieces conserved at Ca’ Pesaro, the drawings for the mural entitled Venice, Italy and Studies will be exhibited for the first time after careful conservation and mounting. Sironi created the mural between 1936 and ‘37 in the Aula Magna of the University of Venice at Ca’ Foscari. It is the sole example of Sironi’s great period of mural painting in Venice.

Sironi was one of art critic Margherita Sarfatti’s favourite artists and a central figure in the innovatory Novecento italiano group towards the 1930s. He saw mural art as a new challenge for the creativity and prestige of Italian art.
Murals represented not only a new technique but also a fresh approach to reclaiming the sense and soul of antiquity and making art a public experience, defined by collective enjoyment, monumental elements and eternal themes.

The group of drawings in the Sironi-Straußwald donation, Venice, Italy and Studies contain a marvellous example of Sironi’s mural period: a group of works of great quality and fundamental importance in appreciating the artist’s creative process and his ability as a skilful draughtsman.
The sketches, drafts, compositions and single images offer a unique opportunity for considering his work, not only due to the associations that arise with his other works in the museum, but also because of their intimate connection with Venetian visual history.