Trieste exhibition explores Lucio Saffaro's polyhedra and classical influences

A new exhibition in Trieste surveys the work of Lucio Saffaro (1929–1998), an artist who defied easy categorization and rejected labels like 'artist-mathematician.' Born in Trieste and based in Bologna, Saffaro earned a degree in pure physics and dedicated his life to writing, poetry, mathematics, and painting. He defined 'new classes of polyhedra with disconcerting and fascinating mathematical properties,' according to friend Bruno D'Amore, who called him 'the last Renaissance artist.' The show at Magazzino 26 traces Saffaro's artistic evolution from early drawings (1949) and brightly colored canvases reminiscent of Miró, Klee, Ernst, and de Chirico, to a geometric phase from the 1960s onward where polyhedra became central. Works like 'La stella di Origene,' 'Il tempio di Talete,' 'Il Graal di Dürer,' and 'Lo specchio di Vermeer' link his forms to classical and Renaissance traditions. The exhibition also highlights Saffaro's enduring connection to Trieste, reflected in titles such as 'Meditazione sul Golfo di Trieste' and 'L'icosaedro marino,' and in the use of intense blues evoking the Gulf's light. Saffaro exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Rome Quadriennale, and won international prizes at the São Paulo Biennial (1969), Rijeka (1970), and Krakow (1972). In Bologna, the Fondazione Saffaro was established in 1999 to preserve his legacy.