Les instruments de la passion, 1987
GPO-0602
Wooden trestles painted black, glass tabletop, primed canvas, halogen lamp mounted on tripod, technical drawings, various objects, oil
Dismantled work
The third variant of Les instruments de la passion – a theme that began in 1986 (GPO-0581) and was developed in subsequent variants until 1998 (GPO-0588, GPO-0613, GPO-0810) – is closely inspired by the thematic context of the exhibition for which it was commissioned, an event organized by FIAT devoted to the history of the automobile industry. Arranged on a table consisting of a plexiglas top resting on two easels are several technical drawings from the FIAT Archive, which are scattered so that they overlap, while on the floor various objects of a mechanical nature emerge from a space filled with blackish lubricating oil. A beam from the halogen lamp placed under the table crosses the glass plane and projects an area of light on the primed canvas hanging from the ceiling in an inclined position. In the artist's own words: “From the dark matter, the light that crosses the projects orients the gaze towards new results”.1
The anecdotic provenance of the French title used by the artist to draw his paraphernalia – the attributes of his vocation and passion – harkens 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.
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2005), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 597 p. 612.
| 1987 | Madrid, Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Las Formas de la Industria, from 22 October, not repr. |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), p. 100 (with incorrect bibliographical source of the unpublished artist’s note originally drawn up in 1987 on the occasion of the group exhibition in Madrid). |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2005), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 597 p. 612. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 602 p. 617, col. repr. |
