Mario Puccini: From Fattori's Pupil to Post-Impressionist at Livorno Museum

A major exhibition at the Museo della Città in Livorno explores the tragic life and evolving art of Mario Puccini (1869–1920), a painter who moved from being a pupil of Giovanni Fattori to embracing Post-Impressionism and Divisionism after a severe mental health crisis. The show highlights Puccini's early portraits, his dramatic shift toward darker tones after 1895, and his later landscapes influenced by Cézanne and van Gogh. A documentary section includes clinical records and drawings from his confinement at the S. Niccolò asylum in Siena (1894–1898). The exhibition also examines his dialogue with Fattori and his engagement with European trends seen at a 1910s Florence exhibition organized by Ardengo Soffici. Curated by Niccolò Lucarelli, the display uses elegant blue panels to frame Puccini's pre-expressionist works, revealing a little-known modernism born from suffering.