The art of quotation as an exchange of glances
Art history is an entertaining game of references and comparisons between artists, explored through the 150 works in the exhibition *Di quadro in quadro* at the Mart in Rovereto.
“There is, in fact, no such thing as art. There are only artists.” It was with these words that the art historian Ernst Gombrich opened his famous handbook. The exhibition *From Painting to Painting: The Art of Reference* is dedicated to these artists and the connections between them. Almost 80 artists, separated by centuries and geographies, who have engaged in dialogue with one another across oceans and cultures. A journey spanning 8 thematic sections and 150 works, designed to constantly evolve in the viewer’s perception: like an entertaining, highly personalised coded trail, it encourages them to draw on their own cultural frameworks and revisit the galleries of the Mart in Rovereto time and again, discovering new connections each time.
“An exchange of glances,” explains director Mart Micol Forti, referring to a dialogue between artists and, at the same time, with the visitor. To mark the Trentino museum’s 25th anniversary, she has announced a new logo, an expansion of the collection and an exhibition to mark the centenary of Fortunato Depero’s “bolted book” (the first of which was published in 1927 by the Dinamo Azari publishing house). Presented in all its nuances, the art of quotation thus resonates as much with the instinctive enchantment of a child captivated by the floor reflections of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s *Cucitrice*, as it does the erudite dissertations of critics who weave their own personal web of interpretations, reflecting on Walter Benjamin’s concept of the ‘aura’ in the presence of Ai Weiwei’s *Mona Lisa Smeared in Cream*.
The exhibition opens with a ‘Vis à Vis’ comparison with the past: Giulio Paolini’s *The Young Man Looking at Lorenzo Lotto* and a Lotto which, unfortunately, did not make it from the Uffizi. The Copy as a means of learning from the Masters: from Agostino Carracci’s *Crucifixion* (after Tintoretto) and Giorgio De Chirico’s *La Muta* after Raphael, right through to the gold-foil wrappers of the chocolates from Flavio Favelli’s *I Maestri Serie Oro* collection. ‘Pictures within Pictures’, featuring views of Giorgio De Chirico’s *Metaphysical Interior* and *Piazza d’Italia*, and a Mondrian standing out against the backdrop of Renato Guttuso’s *Boogie-woogie*. ‘Handwriting and Colour’, featuring the visual poetry of Bruno Di Bello alongside the colour fields of David Reimondo’s *Cromofonetica* and the signatures of Andrea Facco’s *Brand Names*, which, bouncing off the opposite wall, encounter the originals, such as Umberto Boccioni’s *Nude from Behind* and Giacomo Balla’s *Numeri innamorati*. D’Apres, the ‘inspired by’ works, such as Achille Funi’s *Portrait of Marta Pallini*, inspired by Raphael’s *La Velata*, or Massimo Campigli’s declared *Homage to Seurat*, inspired by *A Sunday at La Grande Jatte*. The entire room dedicated to the Morandi Case, featuring the 1929 replica of a still life painted by the artist himself in 1928, and then works ranging from Claudio Parmeggiani to Concetto Pozzati, from the ceramics of Bertozzi &Casoni to the photographs of his books (displayed here in a showcase) by Mary Ellen Bartley. The many ‘covers’ as a new way of interpreting masterpieces: not only the Mona Lisa, but also Stefano Arienti’s coloured plasticine for Monet’s Water Lilies and Mario Schifano’s Water Lilies, Luigi Ontani’s photographs, Vik Muniz’s pixelated works, the wooden thrones by Mario Ceroli, Maria Lai, Armando Testa, Aldo Mondino, and Tano Festa, who reinterprets Michelangelo in a Pop Art style. And it is precisely Pop Art and its doctrine of reproducibility that brings the ‘Avida Dollars’ room (an anagram coined by André Breton for Salvador Dalí) to a close, amidst Andy Warhol’s ‘Brillo Soap’ and Piero Manzoni’s ‘Artist’s Shit’. An exchange of glances, which concludes by intersecting with our own in Mirella Bentivoglio’s *Lo specchio del cuore della consumatrice ubbidiente* (*The Mirror of the Heart of the Obedient Consumer*).
From Painting to Painting. The Art of Reference. Rovereto (TN), MART Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto – until 1 November 2026. Curated by Daniela Ferrari. www.mart.tn.it
