Alberto Magnelli's Color and Abstraction Explored in Florence Exhibition

A new exhibition at the Museo Novecento in Florence, titled "Alberto Magnelli. Armocromie," showcases fifteen masterpieces by the Florentine artist Alberto Magnelli (1888-1971), spanning paintings, drawings, and collages from 1914 to 1968. These works are part of the Legato Alberto Magnelli, donated to the city of Florence and first exhibited in 1973 at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti. The exhibition, curated by Eva Francioli, highlights Magnelli's self-taught development and his evolution from early inspiration in Italian Trecento and Quattrocento art and French avant-garde masters to a personal abstract language. The show emphasizes his mastery of color, described by director Risaliti as a reference to chromatic experiments from the mid-19th century onward. Francioli notes that the works, reunited for the first time in years, offer chromatic scores with a subdued musicality. Magnelli's constant interest in color is the thread linking his artistic phases, achieving visual harmony through balanced color juxtapositions. In 1968, Magnelli explained his process of placing colors to achieve equal weight. The exhibition also features a recently rediscovered sculpture by Jean Arp, Larme de galaxie, donated to Florence after the 1966 flood and now on display, thanks to research by Emanuele Greco.