Aligi Sassu

Aligi Sassu, born in Milan in 1912 and passed away in Palma de Mallorca in the summer of 2000, evolved significantly throughout his artistic career. After definitively moving away from his youthful experiences with Futurism, Sassu, starting in 1929, embarked on a prolific series known as the Uomini rossi ("Red Men"). This series features hundreds of male figures engaged in everyday activities or drawn from mythology.

Sassu's work is characterized by a striking use of red, described by Raffaello Giolli as "fiery and bitter, with the taste of blood, a red that does not sing, does not ring, does not warm, but burns and astonishes." The undefined or loosely depicted environments in which these figures exist often host young men with slender and immature physiques, frequently portrayed in the nude. Raffaele De Grada noted that these figures resemble "adolescents rising in a vascular background, their eyes ablaze as if listening to the vague voice of an oracle predicting future truths," drawing a connection to the "naked men" painted by Scipione during the same period. Both artists challenged the anatomical norms and departed from the monumental and muscular ideals of 20th-century representation.

Sassu's paintings convey a suspended, meditative atmosphere that speaks to profound existential inquiry, delving into the most intimate feelings and states of human experience. His mythological representations are not confined to classic mannerism or literary rambling but instead reflect a deep humanity, governed by a self-awareness contained within the boundaries of the canvas.

In the Iannaccone collection, in addition to works featuring the Dioscuri and the Uomini rossi, there is a significant group of drawings and a cherished canvas from 1941 titled Nu au divan vert. This striking female nude marks a pivotal moment in Sassu's career; from 1941 to 1948, he created a series inspired by Guy de Maupassant's novella La Maison Tellier. This work allowed the artist to explore the theme of the "pleasure house," interpreting it as a reflection of bourgeois frivolity previously depicted in his works on cafés.

The presence of nudes in Sassu's oeuvre is devoid of any moralistic intent; as he stated, his perspective reveals "the acknowledgment of a condemnation, a degrading human condition, from which we can save ourselves through the very humanity of these beings." Among his figurative references is Manet’s Olympia, from which Sassu derived the diagonal composition. His chromatic approach is vividly evident in this painting, where a fiery palette dominates, particularly the sanguine red of the body.

Sassu’s work ultimately intertwines the personal and the mythological, creating a compelling dialogue that resonates with the complexities of human existence and emotion