Soffici and the School of Prato
Ardengo Soffici, 1919 (The Veteran), 1929-1930
Arrigo del Rigo, Quinto Martini, Giulio Petrucci, Gino Brogi, Oscar Gallo and Leonetto Tintori, the masters of the School of Prato, are renowned in Italian art of the 20th Century. In this room one may admire two remarkable paintings by Arrigo Del Rigo (who committed suicide at the age of 24): the intense Self Portrait, influenced by the Italian magic realism of the Twenties, and the Houses nearby Ponte Petrino, an evocative perspective of the town at the beginning of the 20th Century.
Ardengo Soffici moved from Paris to Poggio a Caiano in 1907 and became the spiritual leader of the School of Prato, bringing with him the artistic excitement that enlivened Paris and Florence in those years to the young artists of Prato. The artworks displayed in this room, The veteran and Cabins, express both his essential values and his naïve perspective on nature.