Venere Maria (Maria the Venus) - Sepia nude Michelangelo Pistoletto

Michelangelo Pistoletto 1962-1974

Audio description of the artwork

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Venus Maria is the portrait of Maria Pioppi, the artist's companion, depicted in a pose reminiscent of Titian's Venus, Goya's Maja Desnuda, Ingres' Grande Odalisque, but also Manet's Olympia. The adoption of screen printing, a mechanical process, makes the portrait more impersonal. Michelangelo Pistoletto achieved international recognition and success with these artworks, which formed the basis of his later artistic production and theoretical reflection.

Technical information

Author: Michelangelo Pistoletto
Title: Venere Maria (Maria the Venus) - Sepia nude Michelangelo Pistoletto
Date: 1962-1974
Material and technique: Screen printing on mirror-polished stainless steel
Size: 125x150 cm
Location: Palazzo Pretorio Museum
Third Floor

Michelangelo Pistoletto is one of the most representative figures of post-World War II Italian art. His first production around the 1960s is characterised by research into self-portraiture. These “mirror paintings” are the result of reflections on this theme, in which the artist incorporates the viewer directly into the work, the real dimension of time, and reopens perspective. Through the application of tissue paper or silkscreen prints on mirror-polished stainless steel surfaces, he proposes a reflection on the relationship between figure and background. The surface incorporates the reflection of the environment and of the people observing the work, creating an interactive tension between the image and the observer.