Mario Sironi's career surveyed at Museo del Novecento

The Museo del Novecento in Milan presents 'Mario Sironi. Sintesi e grandiosità', a linear exhibition tracing the painter's evolution from urban landscapes to monumental works. Sironi (Sassari, 1885 – Milano, 1961) is described as a fascist with a Bolshevik soul, whose fragmented yet monumental painting blends metaphysical and futurist elements. The show opens with his personal urban landscapes, such as 'Paesaggio urbano col tram' and 'Periferia', marked by symbolist intimacy and dark tones. Influenced by Boccioni, he experimented late with Futurism, as seen in 'Testa futurista', a face-mask with cubist refractions. Central rooms reveal his 'barbaric heroes' and mannequins, like the ballerina in a collage and 'Venere dei porti', which convey a metaphysical essence more human than de Chirico's. His adherence to Novecento Italiano made him a modern classicist, yet 'Il pescatore' shows him as the most anti-Novecento of all. After an expressionist crisis in the late 1920s, the 1930s brought monumental art, exemplified by 'Vittoria alata' and 'Condottiero a cavallo'. A juxtaposition with 'Lazzaro' shows Lazarus not resurrecting, a secular epitome of collapsed illusions, including fascism. The final section covers his twilight years, marked by a near-execution (saved by partisan Rodari) and his daughter Rossana's suicide. 'Apocalisse', painted shortly before his death, synthesizes his longing for peace after storms and suffering.