Ruggero Savinio Survey at Palazzo Reale, Milan

A comprehensive survey of Ruggero Savinio (born Turin, 1934) is on view in the Appartamenti dei Principi of Palazzo Reale in Milan, curated by Luca Pietro Nicoletti. The exhibition spans his career from 1959 to 2022, covering his time in Paris, Milan, and Rome. Savinio, son of Alberto Savinio and nephew of Giorgio de Chirico, has been called a 'painter poet and philosopher.' The show is organized into five sections: self-portraits and double portraits from the 1990s; 'Apparitions and Shadows' focusing on his Milan years and his relationship with Galleria delle Ore and collector Boschi; 'A Luminous Arcadia' exploring landscape as a driving force in the 1970s; monumental ruins from the 1980s after his return to Rome; and family interiors from the 1990s. Savinio's style features evanescent, material forms emerging from shadow, a thin and diluted painting technique, and a recurring woolly drawing line. His palette is intense and bright, Mediterranean in quality, engaging with past masters from Piccio to French symbolists. The exhibition includes works such as 'Brighton Beach' (2010, acrylic on canvas, 130×106 cm, private collection, Rome).