Vittorio Bolaffio (1883 – 1931)

At the beginning of his artistic learning, Bolaffio appeared to be influenced by the Fattori’s attitude, whom he showed he had perfectly caught the anti-rethorical and reliable manner characterizing his paintings’ structure.

Even though the value of Europe for him was great, Bolaffio was probably the most underesteemed Julian painter of the twentieth century.

Thanks to a close friendship strengthened with Modigliani during the Florentine and the Parisian period, he had the chance of appreciating the great lesson of Cézanne, victim of his fellow-citizens’ incomprehension.

Thirsty for silence, his works represent a row of masterpieces which range over a very shrewed “macchiaiolo” reading at times slow or sudden and gallicizing painting inspired by a very refined Rousseau “the Surveyor”.

Spring and swallows and The return of the herd, absorbed in the spectacular and pure contemporanity atmosphere are his finest exemples.

Bolaffio proved to be a great portraitist as well; he preferred the ideal subjects than the real ones (The little wonderful Chinese).

Gaugain made such an impression on him that he leaved for India in 1912.

The Umberto Saba portrait is the only one in which the writer, one of his great friends, recognized himself.

Consulenza linguistica a cura di  Rosa Maria Curci