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Description of “Natura Morta” (1918) by Giorgio Morandi
Mysterious in its simplicity, Giorgio Morandi’s “Natura Morta” is a visual study of unreality. Employing muted earth tones and aggressively straight lines, Morandi creates an intimate portrait of abstraction, rendered in a naturalistic visual language that seems at once familiar and strange. The subjects depicted in this “still life of fantasy” suggest depth and lighting which turn out to be illusory and ultimately misleading, and we are left with an image deliberately opaque in representational or psychological meaning.
A hollow box of unknown function stares out of a shallow space, three objects suspended inside as if trapped in a fourth dimension: a sphere attached to a thin wire or rod which casts a stark shadow on the inner left corner of the open box; a cylindrical wooden object at center which resembles a post from an old stairway banister with its circular protrusions; and a flat, rectangular rod bisected vertically and suspended on the right. These objects suggest physical materials – the wooden post appears wooden because of its shape and color – but any clue of their identity and function is omitted. Surfaces are rendered flat and monotone, devoid of texture.