Parnaso, 1978
GPO-0394
Parnassus
Pencil and nails on primed canvas, artificial flowers
Central canvas 40 x 60 cm, overall dimensions on wall 140 x 210 cm
Salvatore Ala Collection, Milan
The diagonals of the canvas in the middle must be situated on the extension of the oblique sides of the side canvases (in other words: optically speaking, the central canvas is in the vanishing point of the perspective suggested by the trapezoidal canvases). The distance between the canvas in the middle and the side canvases is 30 cm.
The flowers should be strewn on the ground in random order, in the area corresponding to the canvas in the middle and at a short distance from the wall. Whereas in the ideal dimension of the representation (in the garland drawn on the central canvas) the flowers are interwoven and suspended in an ordinate composition, on this side of the space of the representation, in the real space, the flowers must lie inertly on the ground as if they were spoiled.
The vanishing point simulated by two trapezoidal canvases converges in the central canvas, which features a drawing of a garland of leaves and flowers. The perspectival simulation is corroborated by the nails and by the thickness drawn in pencil along one vertical side of the trapezoidal canvases. Before the wall the artificial flowers scattered as though they were ruined on the ground are a counterpoint, on the side of the ideal space of the representation to the ones interwoven in the drawn garland.
The title refers to the name of the mountain that in Greek mythology was consecrated to the worship of the god Apollo and was inhabited by the nine Muses. Figuratively, the citation locates the space of the representation (evoked by way of the perspectival construction) as belonging to the classical dimension of Art.
This work is part of six variants on the theme, made from 1977 to 1979 (GPO-0375, GPO-0384, GPO-0394, GPO-0395, GPO-0404, GPO-0416).
| 1983 | New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Recent European Painting, 20 May - 8 September, no catalogue. |
| 1989-90 | New York, Salvatore Ala, Fabro, Kounellis, Merz, Paolini, 16 December - 27 January; on display in a room in the gallery, but not a part of the exhibition. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 394 p. 400, col. repr. |
