Hans Hartung's Dark Polyptychs on View in Perugia

A major exhibition in Perugia showcases the visceral, polyptych-based work of Hans Hartung (Leipzig, 1904 – Antibes, 1989), whose life was marked by exile, war, and personal tragedy. After fleeing Nazi Germany in 1934, he lived in poverty in Paris, where he developed a technique of drawing blind, random black lines to calm his anguish. His biography includes his marriage to Norwegian painter Anna-Eva Bergman (1929), divorce, passport revocation, service in the French Foreign Legion (1939–1940), escape to Spain, imprisonment at Miranda del Ebro, re-enlistment in 1943, and loss of a leg in combat. A stroke in 1986 left him partially paralyzed. His late works from the 1980s experiment with a personal version of American action painting, evoking natural and landscape elements such as Sicilian waves and sun-drenched scenes, inspired by his 1920s visit to Sicily where he admired Mount Etna and Magna Graecia temples. The polyptychs, a signature format, are presented in dialogue with works by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Gentile da Fabriano, and Beato Angelico from the gallery's collection, sharing a deep spirituality—sacred in the latter, secular in Hartung's. His famous statement, 'L'art me paraît être un moyen de vaincre la mort' (Art seems to me a means of overcoming death), encapsulates his lifelong struggle. The exhibition is covered by Artribune critic Niccolò Lucarelli.