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Saturday, July 27, 2019

Casa Morandi






The house where Giorgio Morandi and family lived (and died) has been preserved as the museum Casa Morandi.  Above is the courtyard which he saw every day and painted twice.









The bedroom-studio of Morandi has been preserved, like a shrine.
Below, his collection of bottles and objects.




















Below is text from signs in Casa Morandi.  Their translation from Italian to English is sweet:

"Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna on 20th day of July, 1890 by Andrea Morandi and Maria Maccaferri.  He is the first of five children.  Guiseppe born in 1892 and dead when he was eleven, Anna (1895-1989), Dina (1900-1977) and Maria Teresa (1906-1994).  Since 1910, when his father died, his mother grows up alone her children who have a solid education thanks to her efforts.  Anna, Dina and Maria Teresa, all with a teacher qualification, contribute to the support of the family and they will always strongly believe in their brother's artistic skills and stay with him.
     The physiognomy of Morandi, a sober and silent man, kept alive a strong interest in the course of the years.  Some of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century, and also some important Bolognese photographers, visited him in both his studio in Via Fondazza and his summer house in Grizzana and focussed their lens on his figure, on the objects in the atelier and on the places he regularly frequented.
     There are several attestations demonstrating how far from being true it's the gossip according to which Morandi was isolated in his retreat, unaware of what was happening in the rest of the world.  Many are, in effect, the artists of his time who paid homage to him with presents, letters, and visits:  film directors like Fellini, Antonioni, Pollack mentioned him by inserting some of his works in their films; characters like Monica Vitti and Valerio Zurlini often went to Via Fondazza to meet him.  Also the reviews and the monographs that famous  Italian and foreign art critics dedicated to him are equally meaningful and with these people he was able to build up sincere and deep friendship relations.
     In the course of his life, Morandi collects a library of more than 600 volumes, which includes, besides books, literary and poetic texts by Italian and foreign authors.  These are mainly monographs and catalogues of exhibitions dedicated to the  artists he loved:  Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Rembrandt, Chardin, Corot, Cezanne.  The books have been acquired by Morandi or they were given as presents by friends and acquaintances who, through affectionate dedications, showed their deep esteem towards him.  Roberto Long, for example, gave him as present the second edition of his monograph about Piero della Francesca, and Morandi considered this book one of his favorites.  The same applies for the precious volume by Ambroise Vollard about Cezanne of 1914 that he received from Emilio Cecchi; inside there is an original etching of the master from Aix.  The Thoughts by Pascal and the Poems by Leopardi, which he kept on his bedside table in his studio, are worthy of praise."

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