© Lucio Fontana/Bildupphovsrätt 2024
Concetto Spaziale, Attese
Artist
Lucio Fontana
(Italien, 1899 - 1968)
Alternate Title
- Rumsbegrepp, väntan
- Spatial Concept, Waiting
Date1959
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsBildmått: 100 × 81 cm
Ram: 117 × 97,8 × 11 cm
ClassificationPaintings
Credit LinePurchase 1961
On view
StockholmRoomGallery 01:16
Object NumberNM 5609
About the artwork
What is space? And do we perceive the space around us?
A monochrome, dark red canvas with a few clean slits opening it towards the darkness behind. What does it mean? For ages, paintings were a way of looking out into a different world. Within the frame was a window towards the realm of imagination. In the 1900s that window was closed and the painting became an object sharing time and space with the viewer.
Lucio Fontana was born in Argentina in 1899, but his parents were from Italy and in the 1920s he moved to Milan to study sculpture at an art school. In the 1930s he worked mainly in clay and it was not until the late 1940s that he made his breakthrough – not as a sculptor but as a painter. Fontana was not satisfied by letting his monochrome canvases occupy the same space as the viewer. He went one step further in shattering any possible illusion, incorporating the space of the canvas with the surrounding room. He made holes in the canvas. Look, nothing behind! The slits not only break through the illusion but also the very arena of illusion.
Signatures, inscriptions and marks Signerad på baksidan (svårläsligt) L. Fontana "Concetto Spaciale, Attese", Etiketter Ars Helsinki 1961, "Mostra Cultura Italiana d´Oggi" Köpenhamn, Oslo, Göteborg, Stockholm Selected exhibition history Ny presentation av samlingen (2000-2002) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Moderna Museets samling i ny presentation (1998-2000) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Tanken flyger (den 14 september 2002 - den 24 november 2002) Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm (tidigare Stockholms Stadsteater) Moderna Museet c/o Magasin 3 (den 23 mars 2002 - den 16 juni 2002) Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall Önskemuseet (1963-1964) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Efterkrigstid till 1970-tal Moderna Museet, Stockholm Samlingsutställning 2004 - 2011 - I vår tid (2004 - 2011) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Lucio Fontana. Idéer om rymden (1967) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Den tredje handen. Maurizio Cattelan och Moderna Museets samling (den 24 februari 2024 - den 12 januari 2025) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Önskemuseet : the museum of our wishes : notre musée tel qu´il devrait être : museum unserer wünsche : [utställning i Moderna Museet, Stockholm : 26 december 1963 - 16 februari 1964] / ordnad av Moderna Museets VännerLucio Fontana : Idéer om rymden : Moderna Museet, Stockholm 26 augusti - 1 oktober 1967
What is space? And do we perceive the space around us?
A monochrome, dark red canvas with a few clean slits opening it towards the darkness behind. What does it mean? For ages, paintings were a way of looking out into a different world. Within the frame was a window towards the realm of imagination. In the 1900s that window was closed and the painting became an object sharing time and space with the viewer.
Lucio Fontana was born in Argentina in 1899, but his parents were from Italy and in the 1920s he moved to Milan to study sculpture at an art school. In the 1930s he worked mainly in clay and it was not until the late 1940s that he made his breakthrough – not as a sculptor but as a painter. Fontana was not satisfied by letting his monochrome canvases occupy the same space as the viewer. He went one step further in shattering any possible illusion, incorporating the space of the canvas with the surrounding room. He made holes in the canvas. Look, nothing behind! The slits not only break through the illusion but also the very arena of illusion.
Signatures, inscriptions and marks Signerad på baksidan (svårläsligt) L. Fontana "Concetto Spaciale, Attese", Etiketter Ars Helsinki 1961, "Mostra Cultura Italiana d´Oggi" Köpenhamn, Oslo, Göteborg, Stockholm Selected exhibition history Ny presentation av samlingen (2000-2002) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Moderna Museets samling i ny presentation (1998-2000) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Tanken flyger (den 14 september 2002 - den 24 november 2002) Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm (tidigare Stockholms Stadsteater) Moderna Museet c/o Magasin 3 (den 23 mars 2002 - den 16 juni 2002) Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall Önskemuseet (1963-1964) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Efterkrigstid till 1970-tal Moderna Museet, Stockholm Samlingsutställning 2004 - 2011 - I vår tid (2004 - 2011) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Lucio Fontana. Idéer om rymden (1967) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Den tredje handen. Maurizio Cattelan och Moderna Museets samling (den 24 februari 2024 - den 12 januari 2025) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Önskemuseet : the museum of our wishes : notre musée tel qu´il devrait être : museum unserer wünsche : [utställning i Moderna Museet, Stockholm : 26 december 1963 - 16 februari 1964] / ordnad av Moderna Museets VännerLucio Fontana : Idéer om rymden : Moderna Museet, Stockholm 26 augusti - 1 oktober 1967