During the last years the best art fairs have been working like Swiss watches and creating a long series of minor market-exhibitions, much smaller but often with very attractive proposals.  Many art lovers, even very wealthy ones, visit them all, in search of new Damien Hirsts to invest on.  It may be for this reason that the big market-exhibitions of contemporary art have become inaccessible places where the richest men of the planet arrive with their private jets, ready to sign six-zero cheques to take home masterpieces by great masters and works by the trendiest contemporary artists.

The following is a city-by-city guide to some of Italy’s top art exhibitions:
BOLOGNA - Pinacoteca Nazionale: Amico Aspertini (1474-1552), A Bizarre Artist in the Age of Durer and Raphael; until January 11.

BRESCIA - Museo di Santa Giulia: Van Gogh, Masterpieces from the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands; October 18-January 25.

CORTONA - Etruscan Academy Museum (MAEC): 30 masterpieces of Etruscan art from Russia’s Hermitage museum including the only Etruscan bronze funerary urn ever found; until January 6.

FERMO - Palazzo dei Priori: leading Marche Renaissance painter Vincenzo Pagani and influences including Raphael, Carlo Crivelli; until November 9.

FLORENCE - Palazzo Strozzi: Caterina and Maria de’ Medici, Women in Power; October 24-February 8.

- Galleria Palatina: Flemish Artists in Florence, 1430-1530; the likes of van Eyck, Memling and Leida compared to contemporaries Raphael, Botticelli, Castagno and Ghirlandaio; until October 26.

- Palazzo Pitti: The Medicis And Science; large collection of scientific writings and tools; until January 11.

Accademia di Belle Arti: Giovanni Fattori Past and Present, 130 works; until November 23.
(Ansa)

Vincent Van Gogh is definitely one of the most famous artists in the world. His art, so unique and perceptive, makes him recognizable even to those who do not have specific knowledge in the field of art.  Besides his marvelous paintings, the notoriety of the Dutch artist grew thanks to his life lived almost as a novel:  his troubled life and tragic suicide certainly made him an icon of modernity, symbol of the existential discomfort that started to afflict man since the industrial revolution.

In Italy we see many artists who try to find their way into the International élite. But they encounter many difficulties trying to emerge and they ask themselves many questions before managing to enter the system. Luckily our country, despite standing slightly back from the other nations, can boast the presence of excellent names. Few artists have really managed to scrape a living in a few years and have become very appreciated stars in the international art circuit. 

A recent and particularly thorough restoration has brought back to life the splendour of Santa Giustina’s altarpiece by Romanino, which with Giotto’s crucifix represents one of the most famous and important masterpieces in the Pinacotheca of the Civic Museums of Padua. The restoration project was immediately favoured by its supporters: the Savings Bank Foundation of Padua and Rovigo, the non-profit Association “Amici dei Musei e Monumenti” (“Museum and Monument Friends”) of Padua and Province, the “Young People’s sector” of the “Amici dei Musei e dei Monumenti” of Padua and Province, The Consortium Industrial Area and Fluviatile Port of Padua and the Preservation and Restoration Centre “La Venaria Reale” of Venaria Reale (Turin).

The ‘Ancient Paintings and Drawings’ exhibition held on 28th Nay 2008 at Christie’s auction house Milan, totaled 3.756.239 euros, with 87% of sales. For the first time, unpublished work by Giacomo Ceruti, also known as Pitocchetto, was presented.

translated by Giorgina Arcuri

THE PARISIAN MUSEUM DROPS GOLDIN

Marco Goldin is well-known to be an actual strategist when it comes to organizing public exhibitions. The owner of the company Linea d’Ombra, native of Treviso, in a few years has succeeded in turning artistic events into a big business. His rise started in Treviso with the support of Gino De Poli, president of the Foundation Cassamarca: a union which seemed to be made of iron, the one financed and the other filled the city with tourists. But this solid partnership faded since De Poli sacked Goldin without notice accusing him of transforming culture into a village feast.