STYLES AND TECHNIQUES IN THE ART OF THE PAINTER CARLO BASILICO (1895-1966)

The works selected for this exhibition are arranged in chronological order and document the changing style and variety of techniques that characterise the painter's work over four decades. In the 1920s, unusual colourfulness emerged that were applied in their purest form directly to the painting ground with rapid touches; a colour that emphasised plays of light or shadow through counterpoints and that clearly dominated the drawing, reminiscent of French Luminist Impressionism.
However, the brushstrokes soon became more intense, the colours brighter and more unnatural, giving his paintings a post-impressionist tone.
Towards the end of the third decade, his painting underwent a clear transformation, moving ever closer to expressionism, as shown by the accentuation of both the colours and the gestural signs in his paintings. In the fourth decade, the colour tones became sober, but warm and delicate, the so-called "tones of Lombardy", the forms became more ordered and compact, the perspective structure determined the composition of the pictures. In the 1950s, Basilico rediscovered the brightness and colourfulness of his earlier paintings. He succeeded in structuring the pictures compositionally not through drawing but through colour variations. Carlo Basilico was characterised by his ability to vary poses, framings and techniques: He switched from oil to tempera, from watercolour to pencil and grease pastel, demonstrating a remarkable mastery of the media. He painted directly in front of the "motif" and tried to unite the diversity in the unity on one sheet and not to tire the picture by overworking it. It was important to Basilico to preserve the authenticity of the gaze and the freshness of the emotion. Basilico does not sublimate nature, but reflects himself in it by projecting his feelings into the colours of the seasons, the scents of spring and the lights of sunset. His artistic work is a constant search for visions and feelings and reveals a deep connection with the world in which he lived. Basilico painted primarily to find himself in the forms and colours of his painting, a painting that is usually immersed in a bath of luminous freshness.