Journeys in Modern Art

This History of Modern Art course aims to illustrate the historical-artistic panorama in Italy through a series of paths that begin from the Renaissance and end with Informalism of the 1900’s. These paths will be characterized by a continuous dialogue with the geographical, political, economic, social and cultural context. The stages of this long itinerary will be represented by the authors and the most significant masterpieces of Italian art that reveal the contours of the geographical areas and cities where the main artistic and cultural movements originated: from the Renaissance to the Baroque, from Vedutismo to Neoclassicism, from Romanticism to the Macchiaioli, from Divisionism to Art Nouveau, from Futurism to Rationalism, and from Metaphysics to Informalism. The treatment of artworks having themes related to social commitment will be frequent and will, in some cases, include the role played by architecture during certain historical periods. In class, audiovisual materials will facilitate comprehension of this expressive language and will also permit exploration of both the major art capitals such as Florence, Rome, or Venice, and minor ones, such as Urbino, Mantua and Vicenza-- equally rich in often lesser-known works of art. The course affords the opportunity to enrich vocabulary with specialized terminology and, finally, to visualize the location of the most famous museums in the various Italian cities.