Marino Marini's Equestrian Obsession: 40 Years On

Marino Marini (Pistoia, 1901 – Viareggio, 1980), a major 20th-century Italian artist, obsessively depicted horses and riders across painting, drawing, and sculpture in marble and bronze. His initial rough realism evolved into progressive abstraction and geometric distortion, with bodies interlocked like a cross—the horse's horizontal line meeting the human figure's vertical. Over time, forms became restless, contorted, elongated, and disarticulated, reflecting inner turmoil. Marini described his work not as expressionist but as a response to an expressionist world. His equestrian subjects served as a vehicle to narrate the tensions of war, industrial revolution, and technological change. A 1975 Rai program, 'Come nasce un'opera d'arte,' features Marini in his studio painting a horse on glass, discussing his lifelong search for an architectural form that satisfies the spirit. He notes the form changes from joyful to tragic to destructive. The article, published on Artribune, reflects on the 40th anniversary of his death, highlighting his iconic obsession and its evolution from archaic grace to anguished modernity.