Matteo Massagrande (1959) - Natura Morta

AUTHOR

Matteo Massagrande (1959) Italian painter and engraver. 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 an international level. Although famous for his silent interiors and abandoned villas where light is the absolute protagonist, his study of still lifes constitutes a fundamental pillar of his poetics, tackled with the same reserved poetics as the great architectures. In these works, everyday objects such as carafes, vases or fruits are not mere exercises in style, but become “portraits of matter” investigated with a meticulousness rooted in his deep knowledge of ancient techniques, of engraving and restoration. Through a wise use of chromatic stratification, Massagrande transforms 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 enriched by intellectual exchanges with figures of the caliber of Ermanno Olmi, Riccardo Licata and Giacomo Guidi, has led him to exhibit in over a hundred solo shows across Europe, Asia and the United States. His most recent still lifes, central to important exhibitions between 2024 and 2025 in London and Varese, confirm his ability to render the spiritual density of the everyday through a painting that is at once pure technique and poetic vision. With works present in prestigious permanent collections, including the Gabinetto delle Stampe degli Uffizi, 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

"Autumn Still Life", oil on canvas, 66x33 cm the only canvas, 1980s, signature at top left and bottom.

Inside a glass container with a barely indicated profile, a delicate autumn-toned still life unfolds

The construction of the work rests on a rigorous play of chiaroscuro contrasts, where the subjects seem to emerge from a neutral background with robust brushstrokes and chromatic stratifications that confer the painting notable plastic density; the colors, saturated and earth-toned, do not seek transparency but solidity, making tangible the rough texture of the peels and the vitality of the earth still present on the fruits. This chromatic play, conducted on a range of warm colors, creates painterly and gestural impact.

The painting chronologically belongs to the period of the artist’s first maturity, a phase in which Massagrande strengthens his bond with contemporary realism through a language still distant from the diaphanous atmospheres and transparencies that will mark his output from the late 1990s onward. In the phase to which the painting belongs, the painter favors 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 sits as a fundamental pillar of his poetics, demonstrating how the still-life research has been for Massagrande the necessary laboratory. A painting of fine execution and great material impact.

CONDITION REPORT

Excellent overall condition. Work intact in every part with vivid and legible chroma and brushwork. The frame is offered as a courtesy.

Tracked and insured shipment with appropriate packing.