Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964)

Painted in 1943, Fiori is an intimate and absorbing work, showing one of Morandi's most-favoured themes, flowers. In the summer of that year, to escape the war, Morandi found shelter in the village of Grizzana, on the outskirts of Bologna, the city he was born and lived in, which was being devastated by brutal air raids. During those troubled and uncertain months, he created some of his most inspired and moving paintings, such as the present work.

Among Morandi’s most cherished subjects, flowers have always been a symbol of fragility. In the present work, besides suggesting the delicacy of human condition, they also convey a feeling of hope. The fine corollae, tightly arranged one next to the other, and immersed in a soft, warm light, become a poetic emblem of unity. Whereas in many of Morandi’s paintings emptiness dominates the often rarefied composition, in the present work everything is condesed on a small surface, rich of meaning and emotions. With Fiori, Morandi creates a contained yet powerful image to hold on to, during those troubled times.