Antonio Natali: Ai Weiwei's gommoni teach us to read art's content

Antonio Natali argues that Ai Weiwei's installation at Palazzo Strozzi, framing windows with migrant lifeboats, demonstrates the necessity of understanding content in contemporary art. He extends this to historical works, criticizing art historians for focusing on figurative language while neglecting underlying thought. Using Andrea del Sarto's 'Madonna delle Arpie' (1517, Uffizi), he claims the painting is a manifesto of Florentine spirituality bordering on orthodoxy, interpreting smoke as from the 'abyss' and 'harpies' as locusts from Revelation 9, with St. Francis imprinting the seal of the living God. The date 1517 coincides with the Florentine Church's prohibition of apocalyptic preaching. Natali concludes that Ai Weiwei's lifeboats advise against ignoring such iconological reflections.