Catalogue entry

Display

The installation varies according to the specific exhibition. Depending on the amount of space available it includes either all or only a part of the framed elements. The components can be placed close together at short intervals from each other in a continuous horizontal line (based on what is viable, forming the frieze of an ideal temple evoked by a series of antique columns, outlined on the wall in their actual size). Or they can alternate with linear rectangles of the same size, so as to create a discontinuous horizontal sequence or a pattern covering the entire wall, with spaces in between. Or they can be arranged to produce large empty frames, whether or not integrated with a pattern of rectangles scattered partly inside and partly outside.

Display chronology

• 1978, Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: parts I, II and III; elements placed together at short intervals from each other to form the frieze of an ideal temple, evoked by a series of antique columns, outlined on the wall in their actual size.
• 1981, Turin, Mole Antonelliana: parts I, II, III and IV; elements placed close together at short intervals from each other to form the frieze of an ideal temple, evoked by a series of antique columns, outlined on the wall in their actual size, taken from the exterior facade of the Mole Antonelliana.
• 1982, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle and Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum: parts I, II, III and IV; elements arranged so as to form large empty frames.
• 1982, Kassel, Documenta: part IV; elements arranged on two opposite walls: on one side, placed close together to form a large frame, on the other, installed in scattered order on the wall; on both walls, the elements were alternated or integrated with a pattern of squares (in the case of the frame, partially in the interior and partially in the exterior of the same).
• 1982, Berlin, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein: part V; elements strewn over the ground, on the golden cloak of a figure drawn on the wall borrowed from a painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau.
• 1984, Villeurbanne, Le Nouveau Musée: part IV; elements spread over at least two walls, full height, alternating with linear squares of the same size so as to form a pattern separated by empty spaces.
• 1986, Charleroi, Palais des Beaux-Arts: part IV; elements alternating with linear squares of the same size, so as to make up a discontinuous horizontal sequence at the top of the wall.
• 1986, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie: part V; elements placed together to form the frieze of an ideal temple, evoked by a series of antique columns, outlined on the wall in their actual size.
• 1988, Rome, GNAM: part I; elements placed close together to form a long frieze, with no drawn columns.
• 2002, Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: parts I, III and V; elements placed together to form the frieze of an ideal temple, evoked by a series of antique columns, outlined on the wall in their actual size in the niches of the Rotunda on the lower floor of the museum.
• 2006, Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (on the occasion of the reopening of some of the restored rooms): parts I, III and V; elements placed together to form the frieze of an ideal temple, evoked by a series of antique columns, outlined on the wall in their actual size on the walls of an oval space on the lower level of the museum; on the left wall part I (65 elements from the first to the sixty-fifth in numerical order), on the right wall part V (65 elements), on the curved wall part III (15 elements).

Description

Del bello intelligibile is the general title of a cycle comprising five works, made between 1978 and 1982 (GPO-0401, GPO-0402, GPO-0403, GPO-0448, GPO-0467). Each work includes a specific number of lithographs printed in gold and placed in gilded frames, each of which repeats the same mosaic of minuscule reproductions, marked each time, however, by a different caption, written in pencil and referring each time to one of the small images that make it up, so that all together the inscriptions recompose the photographic mosaic in words. From one work to the next the subjects of the reproductions and the number of framed prints change, according to the number of units that make up the mosaic.
Inspired by the yearning for a sublime register of the universal itinerary of art history,1 Del bello intelligibile breaks up the vision of the work in a multitude of illegible images, in a scenography of golden reflections. “Gold recalls the mythical object, it inscribes the sublime; it is the elementary indication of the homage to the unfathomable that tends towards the absolute”.2 And in regard to the intelligibility of beauty – the title of the cycle comes from Plotinus (Enneads, V: 8) – Paolini writes: “Intelligibility is a window through which the work of art looks but that then seems to partially close immediately afterwards or at least not open completely”.3
The installation varies depending on the exhibition space and it contemplates the totality or even only a part of the framed elements. In the first presentation of Del bello intelligibile in Paris in 1978, Paolini placed together the components of the first three parts of the cycle so that they formed the frieze of an ideal temple, evoked by a series of antique columns, expressed on the wall in a life-size image (the installation was repeated using a different number of elements in Turin in 1981 and in Stuttgart in 1986). On other occasions he alternated the framed prints with linear rectangles of the same size, so as to compose a discontinuous horizontal sequence at the top of the wall (Charleroi 1986) or else a pattern filling the entire wall with empty spaces in between (Villeurbanne 1984). Two alternative display forms involved components arranged so that they formed large empty frames (Bielefeld and Wuppertal 1982) or else integrated with rectangles drawn here and there, some of which inside and others outside the frames (Kassel 1982).
In Part One of the cycle, eighty-one elements repeat the ensemble of the eighty-one plates that illustrate the General Catalogue of prints from etched copper possessed by the Calcografia Nazionale (Libreria dello Stato, Rome 1953). From one sheet to another, the pencil inscription refers to the title of one of the plates in the Catalogue.
The iconographic subject and the title of the work correspond to a print edition from the same year (GPE-0031).

1 G. Paolini in conversation with B. Corà (4 February 1996) in Dopopaesaggio. Figure e misure del giardino, edited by M. Scotini and L. Vecere (Siena: Associazione Culturale Castello di Santa Maria Novella and Maschietto & Musolino, 1996), p. 96. The idea of the list and above all of a "temple" of painting from every era harkens back to Idea del tempio della Pittura by G.P. Lomazzo (1590), which Paolini was interested in at the time. As concerns the theme of the list of works see also the cycle Idem (GPO-0244, GPO-0245, GPO-0261, GPO-0265, GPO-0296, GPO-0335).
2 G. Paolini interviewed by C. Grenier, in Flash Art 3 (Milan, French edition), Spring, 1984, p. 40; republished in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 189, with incorrect details in the bibliographical source.
3 G. Paolini, La verità in quattro righe e novantacinque voci (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1996), p. 103 (under “Intelligibilità”).

Sources

• Images from Catalogo generale delle stampe tratte dai rami incisi posseduti dalla Calcografia Nazionale (Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1953).
• Title from Plotinus, Enneads (V, 8).

Exhibitions

1978	Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Giulio Paolini. Del bello intelligibile, 22 November 1978 - 8 January 1979, p. 10, col. repr. (detail), referred to in the text by S. Pagé p. 6; installation featuring a frieze, with drawn columns.
1981	Turin, Mole Antonelliana, Il limite svelato. Artista Cornice Pubblico, 2 July - 18 October, col. repr. p. 24 (detail), text by G. Celant on the first four parts of Del bello intelligibile pp. 17-18; installation featuring a frieze, with drawn columns taken from the façade of the exhibition venue.
1982	Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Giulio Paolini. Del bello intelligibile, 7 March - 25 April, touring to: Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, 4 May - 13 June; Berlin, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, 13 August - 11 September, col. repr. pp. 29-43, 112-113 (exhibition view Paris 1978), 115 (exhibition view Turin 1981), text by E. Franz on the complete cycle titled Del bello intelligibile pp. 4-10; exhibited only in Bielefeld and Wuppertal; installation in the form of frames of various sizes, proportionate to the exhibition walls (see the note by E. Franz p. 119).
1988-89	Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Giulio Paolini, 24 November 1988 - 26 February 1989, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 95, col. repr. no. 7 (detail and exhibition view Turin 1981); installation featuring a frieze, without drawn columns.
2002-03	Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, installation of the Collection; Autumn 2002 - Autumn 2003; installation featuring a frieze, with drawn columns, conceived by the artist for the niches in the Rotunda on the lower level of the museum.
2006-08	Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, installation of the Collection; from 2 February; installation featuring a frieze, with drawn columns, conceived by the artist for a room with an oval plan on the lower level of the museum.

Artist’ writings

•	G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Del bello intelligibile, exhibition catalogue, Paris, ARC/Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1978, pp. 7-8, 12, 20, 29 (note referred to the complete cycle of Del bello intelligibile, in Italian and French); republished in Italian and German in Giulio Paolini. Del bello intelligibile, exhibition catalogue, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 1982, pp. 27, 29, 45, 53, 71, 79, 97, 109; in French in Pratiques. Réflexions sur l’Art 2 (Rennes), Autumn, 1996, pp. 29-33.
•	G. Paolini in Il limite svelato. Artista Cornice Pubblico, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Mole Antonelliana (Milan: Electa, 1981), pp. 22, 23, 27.
•	G. Paolini in Arc 1973-1983 (Paris: Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1983), pp. 124, 126.
•	G. Paolini in the interview with C. Grenier, in Flash Art 3 (Milan, French edition), Spring, 1984, p. 40; republished in Italian in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 189 (with incorrect details in the bibliographical source).
•	G. Paolini, La verità in quattro righe e novantacinque voci (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1996), p. 103 (entry “Intelligibilità”).

Bibliography

•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1980, repr. p. 39 (exhibition view Paris 1978, visible on the left wall).
•	Documenta 7, exhibition catalogue, Kassel, D+V Paul Dierichs GmbH & Co KG, 1982, vol. 2, repr. p. 259 on top (exhibition view Bielefeld 1982).
•	Arc 1973-1983. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris: Amis du Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1983), pp. 124-126 (reference to the exhibition of the first three parts of the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile in Paris in 1978 and an unpublished note by the artist), repr. p. 125 (exhibition view Paris 1978, detail).
•	G. Celant, “Giulio Paolini et la cité de l’art”, in Art press 76 (Paris), December, 1983, p. 30, not repr.; taken in a shorter version from Il limite svelato. Artista Cornice Pubblico, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Mole Antonelliana (Milan: Electa, 1981); republished in Id., Arte dall’Italia (Milan: Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, 1988), pp. 144-145, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), pp. 91-100 (studies and documentation referred to the complete cycle titled Del bello intelligibile), repr. pp. 90 (exhibition view of the first four parts Turin 1981, erroneously dated “1978-83”), 94 (detail).
•	L. Rogozinski, “La position crépusculaire. Notes sur l’art italien d’aujourd’hui”, in Parachute 34 (Montreal), March-April-May, 1984, pp. 8-10 (in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile), repr. p. 9 (exhibition view of the first four parts Turin 1981).
•	J.L. Maubant, “Giulio Paolini ou le triomphe de la mélancolie”, in Paolini. Melanconia ermetica, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Galerie Maeght Lelong, 1985, pp. 9-10 (in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile), not repr.
•	G. Inboden, “Giulio Paolini - Triumph des Modells der Repräsentation”, in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1986, vol. 1, pp. 25-26 (in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile), not repr.
•	M. Scholz-Hänsel, “Das imaginäre Museum Giulio Paolinis”, ibid., vol. 2, pp. 12-14, 16 (in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile), not repr.
•	G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 35 (exhibition view of the first four parts Turin 1981, flipped horizontally, and erroneously dated “1978-83”).
•	F. Poli, “Note di lettura”, in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), p. 36 (in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile); republished in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), p. 59, not repr.
•	F. Poli, “Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini al Palazzo della Ragione, exhibition catalogue, Padua, Salone del Palazzo della Ragione (Milan: Fabbri Editori, 1995), repr. p. 25 (exhibition view of the first four parts Turin 1981, erroneously dated “1978-83”), p. 33 (in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile).
•	M. Disch, “Giulio Paolini. Hors-d’oeuvre”, in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 131 (in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile), not repr.
•	E. Franz, “Visibilité du général. Une description de ‘Del Bello Intelligibile’, œuvre de Giulio Paolini”, in Pratiques. Réflexions sur l’Art 2 (Rennes), Autumn, 1996, pp. 34-46, repr. p. 29 (detail); French translation of the essay published in Giulio Paolini. Del bello intelligibile, exhibition catalogue, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 1982.
•	M. Disch, “L’atto espositivo. Appunti sul lavoro di Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, op. cit. (Ostfildern-Ruit: 1998), pp. 121, 123 (in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile), repr. pp. 119 at the top (exhibition view of the complete cycle in Wuppertal 1982), 255 (exhibition views of the first four parts Turin 1981).
•	A. Lugli, “L’assemblage’ come collezione”, in Id., Assemblage (Paris: Adam Biro, 2000); republished in Italian in Id., Arte e meraviglia. Scritti sparsi 1974-1995, edited by A. Serra (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2006), pp. 188-189, in general on the cycle titled Del bello intelligibile, not repr.).
•	Inventaire des collections du musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. Peintures, sculptures, installations…, edited by S. Pagé (Paris: Paris Musées, 2006), p. 242, col. repr. (exhibition view Paris 2006, detail).
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 401 pp. 408-409, col. repr. (detail and exhibition view of the first four parts Turin 1981).
•	Musée d’Art moderne de la ville de Paris. La Collection, edited by S. Pagé (Paris: Paris Musées, 2009), catalogue entry by B. Parent p. 416, col. repr. p. 417 (exhibition view Paris 2006, detail).
•	E. Franz, “‘Vedo e non vedo’”, in E. Franz et al., Giulio Paolini. Vedo e non vedo. In tema 1 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2014), pp. 28, 30, 32, col. repr. pp. 30 (exhibition views of the first four parts Turin 1981), 31 (detail).
•	A. Moderna, “L’or dans l’histoire de l’art occidental / That Pigment: Gold in Western Art History”, in TL mag 37 (Brussels), May, 2022, p. 112, repr. (exhibition view Turin 1981 and detail).
•	Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. p. 159 (exhibition view Paris 1978).

Del bello intelligibile. Parte prima: "E che dirò del fulgore dell'oro?", 1978