Alfredo Grimaldi (1950) - Rose sul Golfo

Title: Roses on the Gulf
oil on canvas, 18 × 24 cm
In this intensely vivid oil on canvas, Alfredo Grimaldi gives us a window into the Mediterranean paradise. The composition is built as an invitation: to the right, a pergola of roses in full bloom — an explosion of carmine reds, shocking pinks, and touches of pure white — climbs up a white wall, almost as if to capture the gaze before it slips toward the sea. The green leaves, painted with broad, fleshy brushstrokes, vibrate with light and shadow, creating a tactile contrast that makes you want to reach out.
In the center, the village climbs up the hillside with the disordered grace typical of the Campanian coast: cube-shaped houses in milk-white, warm ochre, antique pink, and faded blues, red-tiled roofs that seem to ooze sun. Each window is a small bright eye, each balcony a tiny suspended garden. The light is that of a late afternoon, when the sun is already low and everything becomes honey.
Below, the bay is a turquoise crystal: the water is rendered with thin layers of cobalt blue, emerald green, and touches of white that catch the reflections of the boats. Four vessels – two sailing, two motorized – rest quietly, as if suspended between sky and sea. In the distance, the hills fade into a soft violet, almost a memory, while the sky, a deep and uniform blue, is barely veiled by light clouds that look like dollops of cream.
The material is dense, generous, almost sculptural. Grimaldi does not mix the colors on the palette but lays them pure on the canvas, letting them touch and push away from each other in a lively dialogue. The result is an image that does not reproduce reality, but amplifies it: the happy memory of a place, the sensation of a warm wind on the skin, the scent of roses and sea salt mingled.