Francesco Clemente's 'In Between' at Triennale Milano Rethinks His Oeuvre

The exhibition 'In Between' at Triennale Milano reframes Francesco Clemente not as a Transavanguardia protagonist but as an artist who, since the late 1970s, destabilized the centrality of Western imagery. The show argues that Clemente's divergence from peers like Chia, Cucchi, and De Maria was not biographical eccentricity but a coherent position. The title refers to a structural condition of the image: an interval before opposing poles separate. Works span from 1982 to 2025, including 'Winter Flowers in Spring II' (2025), where color dissolves figure-ground distinctions. India and Brazil function as transformative devices, not exotic geographies. The exhibition avoids linearity, presenting works in resonant networks. 'My House' (1982) merges genealogy and dwelling into a mental architecture. 'Porta Coeli' (1983) disrupts sacred iconography with esoteric layers. A room features portraits commissioned by Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent's Summer 2025 campaign, escaping fashion temporality. The show juxtaposes Clemente with Marlene Dumas, Anselm Kiefer, Peter Doig, and Bhupen Khakhar. Curated without celebratory narrative, the exhibition presents myth, eros, autobiography, and spirituality as internal forces. It leaves open the question: if an image belongs to no culture, to whom does it answer? Clemente's answer appears to be: to no one, and this irresponsibility makes it ineluctable.