Gonzalo Chillida retrospective in Rome explores silence and light

A retrospective of Gonzalo Chillida (San Sebastián, 1926–2008) is on view in Rome, near Piazza Navona, behind a wall separating the tourist chaos. The exhibition spans his career, from figurative painting and Cubism to geometry and photography, tracing his journey from Castile to Braque and Palazuelo in Paris, and back to the Basque Country, Donostia, and its beach. Nature is central, with a modern vein of unease and bewilderment, always retaining a visionary and lyrical attitude. The narrative follows a progressive search for structural simplification in form and color, leading to a metaphysical interpretation of reality. Later works reflect a more existential melancholy, where the fleeting impressionist moment dissolves into an indefinitely archaic world. Sea, sand, and fog are recurring subjects, depicted as mute fields that evoke the enchantment of art through light alone.