The historic Palazzo Pitti opens its doors to the Galleria D'arte Moderna. The apartments occupied by the royal family until 1920 are today 30 rooms filled with masterpieces of Italian painting, Tuscan Neoclassicism, Naturalism, and the Tuscan Impressionistic school, or the Macchiaioli. The imaginary splendor of salons, duchesses and noblewomen, and their whispered stories are recounted by attentive narrators to the eyes of the viewer. The performance starts with the beauty and idealism of Tuscan Neoclassicism: the vigilant times of the powerful Italian families before unification: Demidoff, Asburgo, Lorena, (Salons 1-2).
The historicism of Romantic painting is shown in the strong body of Sampson, portrait done by Francesco Hayez (Salon 5).
Shrewd are the physiognomies and portraits of Antonio Ciseri in the times that Florence was the Capital of Italy (Salons 7-8).
In a flow of warm colors and joy of life, works of the landscape school from the second half of the 19th Century and the private collection donated to the Galleria by Diego Martelli: a collection links love for Naturalism and Impressionism.
The hot canvases of Andriano Cecioni, Florentine sculptor, painter, and writer, immortalizes the ups and downs of the campaign for Italian independence and the Post-Unification age (Salons 12-13).
Giovanni Fattori, for the Macchiaoli current, is the most influential representatives of Caffè Michelangelo; in a scene in which the issue "Mark" dominates the pictorial interests of the second half of the 19th Century: 'Wind' (Salon 18).
And the paintings of fictional subject matter by Giovanni Fattori are authoritative: 'Maria Stuarda al campo di Crookstone (Maria Stuarda at Crookstone Field)' and ' Il campo italiano dopo la battaglia di Magenta (The Italian field after the Battle of Magenta)' (Salons 12-13), Carica di Cavalleria (Cavalry charge)' (sala 21), 'Libecciata' (sala 18), 'Staffato', 'Cavallo Stanco (Tired horse)' (sala 23).
Telemaco Signorini's valuable paintings are: 'Bagno Penale a Portoferraio (Penal colony at Portoferraio)', 'Giardino presso Careggi (Garden near Careggi)' (sala 23).
The passing of the Capital from Florence to Rome, the end of the Risorgimento and Unification of Italy with a transfer to new subjects and interests are portrayed by Riccardo Nobili 'In birreria (In pub)' ( Salon 17).
Salon 25 houses a great example of Italian collecting, with a collection of 43 paintings by the industrial Emilio Gagliardini after the second World War: the paradigmatic painting ' Luci e ombre a Palestrina (Light and shadow in Palestrina)' by Vincenzo Cabianca.
In the 20th in Florence we find a new Figurative culture: the attention rests on man's anxieties and the world around him through a strong need to express vitality: 'Nudo di donna (Nude of a Woman)' by Felice Carena (Salon 27).
The finale to a show free of foreign influences that brings us back to the Italian tradition in Naturalism in the works of Baccio Maria Bacci and Libero Andreotti (Salons 29-30). A last entusiatsic glace is required for some foreigner artists and their masterpieces: 'Fratello soldato (Brother in arms)' Gauguin and 'Ninette con la gabbia (Ninette with the cage)' Matisse.
An environment of doors open on the world that has passed, on Tuscany and life whispered in sketches, now strong, now soft, of great masters and unknown narrators.
Palazzo Pitti, Piazza Pitti, 1
Opening: Tuesday to Saturday: 8.15 to 13.50, I, III and V Sunday: 8.15 to 13.50, II and IV Monday: 8.15 to 13.50
Closed: II and IV Sunday, I, III and V Monday, December 25th, January 1st and May 1st
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