Belvedere, 1992
GPO-0698
Photographic reproduction on plexiglas
Ø 70 cm
Dismantled work
This work, which is inspired by the oculus of the Galleria Christian Stein on via Lazzaretto in Milan where it was exhibited for the first time, consists of a plexiglas tondo featuring the impression of a soap bubbler blower – from Les bulles de savon (ca. 1734) by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin – associated with a sphere of celestial bodies. Added to the game of the planets-rounds is a crystal sphere, placed on the outer border of the circular space.
The work is part of a group of works with the same title, made between 1990 and 1996, whose common denominator is a figure located in either an elevated or a central position – in a "belvedere", as the title suggests – and correlated with one or more astral spheres, understood to be the symbolic model of incomparable perfection (cf. GPO-0665, GPO-0666, GPO-0667, GPO-0679, GPO-0700, GPO-0714, GPO-0715, GPO-0776).
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Les bulles de savon, c. 1734, oil on canvas, 61 x 63.2 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
| 1992-93 | Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, Giulio Paolini, 27 October 1992 - 24 February 1993. |
| 1996 | Rome, French Academy, Villa Medici, Giulio Paolini. Correspondances, 13 March - 28 April, cat. no. 14 (erroneously dated “1990”), col. repr. |
| • | Inside Out – Museo Città Eventi, exhibition catalogue, Prato, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci (Milan: Edizioni Charta, 1993), col. repr. p. 52 (exhibition view Milan 1992). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 698 p. 713, col. repr. |
| • | Collezione Christian Stein. Una storia dell'arte italiana / A History of Italian Art, IVAM (Valencia-Lugano-Milan: Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Museo Cantonale d'Arte and Mondadori Electa, 2010), col. repr. p. 319 (exhibition view Milan 1992). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), col. repr. p. 223 (exhibition view Rome 1996). |
