Burri. Oltre la superficie

After the post-war crisis, when art was researching for new codes, Alberto Burri experimented with the possibilities offered by the materials, in line with the Informal art movement. Throughout his career, Burri progressively reduced the distance between painting and reality, from his early 1950s series such as the “Sacchi”, the “Combustioni” and the “Plastiche”, to the “Cretto di Gibellina”. His artistic approach involved working on the material with gestures like tears, stitches, and burns, without ever losing control, even as he allowed the material's natural tendency to accidents to emerge.

Palazzo Albizzini is the place where Burri chose to store a core collection of his work permanently. Before the guided tour of the exhibited works - Catrami, Muffe, Gobbi, Sacchi, Legni, Ferri, Combustioni, Cretti, and Cellotex, spanning from 1948 to 1985 - Bruno Corà, President of the Foundation and art historian and critic, will introduce you to the collection's history and to Burri's figure and art.

As his production grew more monumental, Burri selected one of the Ex-Tobacco Drying Sheds as his studio. He then decided to buy the entire complex, seeing it as the most suitable structure to house his major painting cycles, and entrusted the restoration to the architects Alberto Bacchi and Tiziano Sarteanesi. The visit to the Ex-Tobacco Drying Sheds will begin with Sarteanesi’s presentation, offering a unique opportunity to delve into the architectural solutions Burri envisioned for displaying his ”Grandi Cicli”.

The temporary exhibition Burri - Tempere 1947-1990 at the Ex -obacco Drying Sheds, which features small and medium-sized works, drawings, and previously unpublished graphic works, reveals Burri's particular pictorial sensitivity, especially in terms of color combinations. During the exhibition tour, there will be a meeting with a restorer specialized in tempera, who will explain the techniques and various stages of conservation and intervention.