Vittorio Sgarbi curates 'I Pittori della realtà' in Fermo, reviving post-war Italian realists

Vittorio Sgarbi has curated the exhibition 'I Pittori della realtà. Verità e illusione tra Seicento e Novecento' at Palazzo dei Priori in Fermo, running from December 9 to May 1. The show highlights the 'pittori moderni della realtà', a group active in the 1950s that rejected avant-garde trends in favor of traditional painting and realism. Key artists include Gregorio Sciltian, Pietro Annigoni, and the brothers Xavier and Antonio Bueno. The group formed in Milan in 1947, opposing modernism and the École de Paris, and drew inspiration from Caravaggio, Spanish and Flemish painting, and Giorgio de Chirico. The exhibition features around seventy works from the 1920s to the late 1950s, divided into five sections, and includes pieces by Alfredo Serri, Giovanni Acci, and Carlo Guarnieri. It is part of the regional project 'Il Seicento nelle Marche' and was organized in collaboration with the Mart of Rovereto. Sgarbi, assisted by Beatrice Avanzi and Daniela Ferrari, aims to restore the reputation of these marginalized artists. The display also includes historical works from the 17th and 18th centuries by artists like Alessandro Magnasco, Giuseppe Recco, and Pieter Paul Rubens.