Les instruments de la passion, 1998
GPO-0810
Wooden trestles painted black, plexiglas tabletop, primed canvas, halogen lamp, plexiglas sheets, crystal sphere, fragments of photographic reproduction on transparent acetate
Plexiglas tabletop and canvas 120 x 180 cm each, three plexiglas sheets 40 x 60 cm each, overall dimensions variable
Collection of the artist
Arranged on a table consisting of a plexiglas top resting on two trestles are some of the typical elements of Paolini’s artistic tools: a crystal ball, which acts as the fulcrum of the whole, and three plexiglas sheets of the same size as Disegno geometrico (GPO-0001), arranged in different ways, which hold down some fragments of an astral image printed on transparent acetate. The objects are crossed by a beam from the lit halogen lamp mounted on a tripod lying underneath the table in such a way that their shadow casts an ambiguous image on the primed canvas hanging from the ceiling in an inclined position.
The anecdotic provenance of the French title used by the artist to draw his paraphernalia – the attributes of his vocation and passion – goes back to his recollection of a guided viewing of Rogier van der Weyden’s Last Judgment (1450) in Beaune, particularly the moment when the gallery guide pointed out the panel of the polyptych depicting Christ’s instruments of the Passion.
The same theme was formulated in four previous variants made in 1986 (GPO-0581), in 1987 (GPO-0588, GPO-0602) and in 1988 (GPO-0613).
| 1998 | Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum, Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, 4 April - 31 May, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 10 p. 182 (erroneously dated “1987”), not repr. |
| 1999 | Turin, GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Giulio Paolini. Da oggi a ieri, 8 May - 25 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 39 p. 38 (erroneously dated “1987”), col. repr. pp. 96-97 (exhibition view Graz 1998), 116-117 (exhibition view). |
| 2001 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti, Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, 15 September 2001 - 6 January 2002, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 74, col. repr. p. 59 (exhibition view Turin 1999), referred to in the text by M. Disch p. 66. |
| 2006 | Bergamo, Accademia di Belle Arti, Giulio Paolini. Fuori programma, 6 April - 16 July, col. repr. pp. 108-111 (exhibition views), referred to in the texts by G. Di Pietrantonio p. 13, E. Grazioli pp. 22, 24. |
| • | G. Paolini, Quattro passi. Nel museo senza muse (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2006), plate no. X (exhibition view Graz 1998). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 810 p. 830, col. repr. (exhibition view Bergamo 2006). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), col. repr. pp. 227 (exhibition view Graz 1998), 231 (exhibition view Turin 1999). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Et in Arcadia ego, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti (Imola: Manfredi Edizioni, 2024), col. repr. p. 17 (exhibition view Verona 2001). |
