Matteo Massagrande (1959) - Vaso con Margherite

AUTHOR

Matteo Massagrande (1959) is an Italian painter and printmaker. Born in Padua in 1959, and today active between his hometown and Hajós in Hungary, he is considered one of the most authoritative masters of contemporary realism at the international level. Although he is famous for his silent interiors and abandoned villas where light is the absolute protagonist, his still life study constitutes a fundamental pillar of his poetics, tackled with the same poetic restraint as his grand architectures. In these works, everyday objects such as jugs, vases, or fruits are not mere exercises in style, but become “portraits of matter” investigated with a meticulousness that digs its roots in his deep knowledge of ancient techniques, engraving, and restoration. Through a wise use of chromatic stratification, Massagrande transforms the still life into a meditation on time and permanence, elevating microscopic detail to a metaphysical and suspended dimension.

His long career, which began early in the seventies and was enriched by intellectual exchanges with figures of the caliber of Ermanno Olmi, Riccardo Licata, and Giacomo Guidi, has led him to exhibit in more than one hundred solo shows across Europe, Asia, and the United States. His most recent still lifes, protagonists of important exhibitions between 2024 and 2025 in London and Varese, confirm his ability to render the spiritual density of the everyday through painting that is at once pure technique and poetic vision. With works held in prestigious permanent collections, including the Uffizi Prints Cabinet, Massagrande confirms himself as an artist capable of dialoguing with the great tradition of the past to tell the silent resonances of contemporary reality.

DESCRIPTION

"Vaso di Margherite" (Vase of Daisies), oil on canvas, 92x72 cm with frame, 70x50 the work alone, 1980s of the 20th century, signed at bottom right, small tear near the signature, otherwise excellent condition.

Within a glass container and with a profile barely suggested, unfolds a very large bouquet of wild daisies with a blue damask silk background.

The construction of the work is based on a rigorous play of chiaroscuro contrasts, where the subjects seem to emerge from a deep blue thanks to a grazing light that shapes their volumes. The painting technique here is vigorous and confident, characterized by bold brushstrokes and light glazes.

The painting chronologically belongs to the period of the artist’s first maturity, a phase in which Massagrande consolidates his link with contemporary realism through a language still distant from the diaphanous atmospheres and transparencies that will mark his production from the late 1990s onward. In the phase in which the painting sits, the painter prefers a denser and more material rendering, where the eye lingers on the physical concreteness of reality before arriving at that metaphysical and silent dimension typical of his famous abandoned interiors. The work thus positions itself as a fundamental pillar of his poetics, bearing witness to how still life research has been for Massagrande the necessary workshop.

CONDITION REPORT

Excellent overall condition. The work is intact in every part, with vivid and legible color and brushwork. The frame is offered as a courtesy. Single defect: small tear restored near the signature visible in the photo.

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