Still Life

Giorgio Morandi’s still lifes, typically produced in series, often feature a few closely positioned vases painted in subdued colors on small format canvases. Yet these humble vessels can seem monumental—as if, in the words of one 1950s critic, Morandi painted “cathedrals rather than bottles.” His signature buttery paint application imparts a rough-hewn quality to the work’s surface, while the muted, sun-baked color palette recalls the architecture of the artist’s native Bologna, Italy. The bottles’ symmetrical arrangement in particular imbues the work with a constructed linearity that demonstrates the quiet care with which Morandi composed this miniature world.