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These artworks are part of a series of 22 paintings made by Giacomo Balla for the top portion of the corridor in his house in via Oslavia 39b, in Rome. Most of the other paintings are preserved on site and have the same format of 77 x 77 cm, but all vary in composition and palette, rielaborating the themes developed by the artist since the 1910s.
"Motivo con la parola Balla" (Motif with the word Balla) is a composition developed by starting from the artis's own name, the letters of his signature define different coloured areas serving as margins and literally blending in the bidimensional space within the frame.
"Primavera" (Spring) is full of light, life, wit, buoyancy, a subject widely revisited by Giacomo Balla, here the elements to his interpretation of the season are more blunt all the while dialoguing with one another in harmony.
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Giacomo Balla (1871 - 1958) lived in this apartment with his two daughters Elica and Luce from 1929, until his death. He conceived his family home to be a total work of art, designing and/or creating everything in it, every centimeter of it imbued with his vision. His daughters were artists themselves and collaborated with Balla, executing textile designs and tapestries, they lived in the house until the late ninties.
After many years of restoration, this year, Casa Balla was opened to the public by Museo MAXXI in accordance with the artist's Foundation, and a retrospective "Casa Balla. Dalla casa all'universo e ritorno" (Balla House. From the house to the universe and back) is now on view at the MAXXI, where several contemporary artists were also invited to reflect on Balla's legacy.
The house perfectly reflects the ideas co-signed by Balla and Fortunato Depero in the 1915 "Ricostruzione futurista dell'Universo" (Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe)
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We shall find the abstract equivalent for all forms and elements in the universe, then we shall combine them in sculptural constructions according to the mood of our inspiration.
Giacomo Balla was a signatary of the Futurist Manifesto in 1910 and key proponent of the movement. Before adhering to Futurism, Balla had been a teacher of Divisionist to Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini and Mario Sironi, he was later influenced by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti to adopt the Futurist style. In his paintings he depicted light, movement and speed. He was concerned with expressing movement in his works, tending towards the witty and whimsical, he was inspired by chronophotographic experiments led by Marey and Muybridge.
After Boccioni's death in 1916 he started signing all his works with the pseudonym "FuturBalla". Balla was a polymath, he produces Paroliberist works, designed objects, scenes for Ballet Russes
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Casa Balla : Via Oslavia 39, Roma
Current viewing_room
