(Cortona/Arezzo 1883–1966 Paris)
Natura morta con pesci, 1936, signed, fresco applied on canvas, 125 x 200 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, Italy
Collection Volpi di Misurata, Italy
Collection Cicogna, Italy
Galleria Gissi, Torino
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
Venice, XX Biennale Internazionale d’Arte, 1936, no. 11
Alessandria, Palazzo Cuttica, Gino Severini dal 1916 al 1936, curated by Marisa Vescovo, 24 April – 14 June 1987 exh. cat. p. 95 with ill.
Malpensa, Spazio Espositivo Ministero Degli Affari Esteri, 20 Maestri della Collezione Farnesina, curated by Maurizio Calvesi and Lorenzo Canova, 2007, exh. cat. p. 77 with ill.
Rome, Studio d’Arte Campaiola, Appunti dalla Biennale, February 2010 (label on the reverse)
Ravenna, Loggetta Lombardesca, La Seduzione dell’Antico, 27 February – 26 June 2016, exh. cat. with ill.

Literature:
Daniela Fonti, Gino Severini. Catalogo Ragionato, 1988, p. 434, no. 579 with ill.

After the years of Futurism, in which Severini along with the other artists focalised on the themes of dynamism, technology and loudness, Severini dedicated himself to more traditional values like family and nature.
Invited to the XX Venice Biennial of 1936, Severini executed two frescos of the same dimensions, Natura morta con Pesci (still life with fish) and Natura morta con Piccioni (Still life with pigeons), both artworks represented the warmth of the family also through the idea that sitting down to a meal is a moment of balance. The stillness of the subjects depicted fully contrast the principle of movement that represented the Futurist style, marking the beginning of a new artistic phase right before the beginning of another tragic World War.