Crepuscolo degli idoli, 1997
GPO-0792
Twilight of the Idols
Fragments of plaster casts, velvet stage curtain, grey plinths
Two plinths 180 x 40 x 80 cm each, overall dimensions 240 x 200 x 220 cm
Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome
• 1997, Ivano Fraceno, Castel Ivano: the plaster fragments are wedged between two plinths painted white.
• 1998, Bagheria, Civica Galleria “Renato Guttuso”: the two plinths are painted grey and the velvet curtain is added. Stuck in the fragments between the two plinths the curtain drops to the ground dragging several plaster fragments along with it.
• 2007, Verona, Palazzo della Ragione: the arrangement of the plinths and the distribution of the plaster fragments is modified and defines the definitive shape of the work.
The fragments of the plaster casts of a pair of broken wings and of the classical sculptural group called The Wrestlers are scattered between two anthracite-grey-painted bases. One of them is right-side up, the other one is upside down in a tilted position. The plaster fragments are partially wedged into the dark green velvet curtain, which from the top of the right-side up plinth, held lightly by the two wings, drops to the ground.
The title taken from Friedrich Nietzsche – originally Paolini had entitled the work La caduta degli dei [The Fall of the Gods] – does not just allude to the ruinous fall, but also to the plaster cast as simulacrum, fetish, or "idol" of an absent, lost, or ineffable original.
• Wrestlers, 1st century AD Roman copy of a 3rd century BC Greek original, marble, 89 cm, Le Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence.
• Title from Friedrich Nietzsche, Götzen-Dämmerung (Leipzig: Verlag von C. G. Naumann, 1889).
| 1997 | Ivano Fraceno (Trento), Castel Ivano, Artmonie. Architettura e scultura negli spazi pubblici, 27 July - 7 September, not repr. |
| 1998 | Bagheria (Palermo), Civica Galleria “Renato Guttuso”, Villa Cattolica, L’ombra degli Dei. Mito Greco e Arte Contemporanea, 10 May - 12 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 205, not repr. |
| 2007 | Verona, Palazzo della Ragione, Il Settimo Splendore. La modernità della malinconia, 24 March - 29 July, cat. no. 243 p. 386, not repr. (with incorrect overall dimensions). |
| 2025 | Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Nel segno di Giano. La donazione Gian Enzo Sperone all'Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, 16 May - 7 June. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 792 p. 810, col. repr. (exhibition view Verona 2007). |
| • | Gian Enzo Sperone Dealer / Collector from 350 BC to Last Week (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2019), col. repr. p. 505 (exhibition view Verona 2007, erroneously dated "1977"). |
