It is one of the leading cultural events in Puglia in 2023: The tigers, lions and roosters of Antonio Ligabue’s art in the exhibition to be held inside the evocative Castle of Conversano

The city of Conversano opened the season of great cultural events with an anthological exhibition dedicated to the artist Antonio Ligabue, born in Zurich in 1899 and died in Gualtieri-Reggio Emilia in 1965. The event, which will be held from 25 March to 8 October 2023 at the Castello degli Acquaviva museum complex, was presented at a press conference by the curator of major international exhibitions, Iole Siena of Arthemisia, together with the mayor Giuseppe Lovascio and the councilor to Culture Caterina Sportelli.

The exhibition, which represents one of the main cultural events in Puglia in 2023, will focus on the figure of Antonio Ligabue, one of the most interesting painters of the 20th century. During the 6 months of the exhibition, the halls of the Castle will be filled with tigers, lions, roosters, self-portraits and all the wonderful world of Ligabue, in what is expected to be one of the most beautiful exhibitions ever held on the artist.

According to the curator of the exhibition, Siena, one cannot speak of Ligabue’s art without knowing his life, and one cannot understand his works without entering the world of this “unfortunate and crazy little man, but full of talent and poetry “.

Antonio Ligabue is considered one of the most loved naive painters of the 20th century, a self-taught visionary artist who managed to conquer the general public.

The exhibition is a great opportunity to admire some of his most significant works, from prestigious private and public collections, such as the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan and the Cariplo Foundation.

Spectators will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Ligabue’s poetic world and to admire his works of great emotional impact, which represent his life, his suffering and his passion for animals.

The Conversano exhibition, considered one of the most complete ever dedicated to the artist and divided according to a chronological trend, can count on real masterpieces such as Carriage with horses and Swiss landscape from 1956-57, Self-portrait with red scarf and Portrait by Marino from 1939-52. There are also sculptures such as Owl with prey from 1957-58 and very powerful graphic works such as Owl, Hyena and Self-portrait with jockey cap.

Don’t miss the opportunity to admire the works of Antonio Ligabue, an artist who was able to masterfully interpret the beauty and suffering of the world around him, through his extraordinary and timeless art.

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Contact us to stay in Conversano and visit the exhibition!

Info and tickets:

More information and tickets here: https://www.arthemisia.it/ (Roman cultural enterprise, known internationally, curator of major exhibitions)

On Ligabue and the exhibition:

Born in Zurich in 1889, Antonio Ligabue was immediately given up for adoption to a Swiss family, since his father was unknown and his mother from Belluno was unable to take care of him. Already in his adolescence, he manifested psychiatric problems which led him, in 1913, to a first internment in a boarding school for disabled boys. In 1917, after an attack on his foster mother Elise Hanselmann, Ligabue was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic and then, in 1919, expelled from Switzerland. He returned to Gualtieri, his stepfather’s town of origin, where he was not understood by his contemporaries and was nicknamed “el Matt” by the inhabitants of the town.
Ligabue took refuge in art to express his existential discomfort and, thanks to the meeting with Renato Marino Mazzacurati in 1928, he began to exhibit his works in small exhibitions, earning his first money and some recognition.
In 1937 he was again admitted to a psychiatric hospital, but in 1948 he began to exhibit his work in more important exhibitions. The Conversano exhibition, through over 60 works, tells the life and work of Ligabue, the man who made his art the redemption of his very existence.
The exhibition allows you to explore the artist’s thematic cores, such as the representation of the struggle for survival of the animals of the forest, the self-portraits that captured their torment and bitterness and the representation of work in the fields and of the animals he loved so much and he felt brothers. The exhibition follows a chronological breakdown of the various stages of the artist’s work and allows us to understand the talent and sensitivity of Ligabue, whose creativity was the means to fill the void of abandonment and overcome the discomfort of marginalization and illness mental.

Visit our Bed & Breakfast in Conversano where to stay to visit the exhibition!