Empedocle, 1980

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Archive number

GPO-0425

English title

Empedocles

Technique

Mirror, golden fabric, plaster cast

Dimensions

Mirror Ø 80 cm, cast 9 x 28 x 16 cm, overall dimensions variable

Edition details

The work was executed in a numbered edition of six.

Collection

1/6	Paul Maenz Collection, Berlin
2/6	Present whereabouts unknown
3/6	Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, Turin
4/6	Collection of the artist
5/6	Present whereabouts unknown
6/6	Present whereabouts unknown
N.n.	Private collection

Acquisitions and loans

1/6	From 1995 to 2005 on loan at Neues Museum, Weimar
3/6	Gift of the artist, 25 October 2012, archive no. GPO-0425

Description

A round mirror laid down on the ground over a piece of golden cloth framing its edges reflects the image of the plaster cast of an upside-down foot hanging from the ceiling, causing our gaze to rebound from a simulated, yet still dizzying, depth, to the height above us. The title recalls the celebrated legend according to which the Mount Etna volcano, where the Greek philosopher Empedocles fell to his death, threw back a sandal of his during an ensuing eruption.

Exhibitions

1980	Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Giulio Paolini, 10 April - 26 May, touring to: Oxford, The Museum of Modern Art, 8 June - 20 July, not repr.
1980	Rome, Galleria Ugo Ferranti, Giulio Paolini. Ritratto dell’artista come modello, from 18 November.
1981	Cologne, Galerie Paul Maenz, Giulio Paolini, 30 June - 1 August.
1984	Villeurbanne, Le Nouveau Musée, Giulio Paolini, 20 January - 18 March, vol. Images/Index, repr. p. 76.
1984	Zurich, Galerie Annemarie Verna, Giulio Paolini, 26 April - 26 May; edition 4/6.
1985-86	Montreal, Musée d’art contemporain, Giulio Paolini, 7 July - 8 September, touring to: Vancouver, Vancouver Art Gallery, 29 November 1985 - 19 January 1986, same catalogue as for the solo exhibition in Villeurbanne 1984.
1986	Cologne, Galerie Paul Maenz, Giulio Paolini. Dal “Trionfo della rappresentazione” (cerimoniale: in prospettiva), 4 February - 1 March; edition 1/6.
1986	Charleroi, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Giulio Paolini, 15 February - 30 March, same catalogue as for the solo exhibition in Villeurbanne 1984.
1986	Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Beuys zu Ehren, 16 July - 2 November, col. repr. p. 443; edition 4/6.
1986	Edinburgh, The Fruitmarket Gallery, The mirror + the lamp, 19 July - 31 August, touring to: London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, 10 September - 12 October, not repr., referred to in the text by M. Newman pp. 18-20; edition 1/6.
1986	Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Giulio Paolini, 20 September - 2 November, cited in the checklist of exhibited works vol. 4 no. 32 p. 52, repr. vol. 3 p. 29, repr. vol. 2 on back cover (exhibition view); edition 1/6.
1987	Meymac, Centre d’art contemporain, Abbaye Saint-André, Les années 70. Les Années Mémoire. Archéologie du savoir et de l’être, 11 July - 27 September, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 149, col. repr. p. 17.
1990	Munich, Galerie Albrecht, Peter Halley, Julian Opie, Giulio Paolini. Bild und Wirklichkeit, 24 April - 16 June; edition 1/6.
1990	Bologna, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna, Villa delle Rose, Giulio Paolini. Hotel de l’Univers, 27 May - 29 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 10 p. 17, repr. p. 45 (detail).
1991	Milan, Galleria Seno, Alviani, Boetti, Mochetti, Paolini, [unknown dates], repr. n. pag.
1991-92	Stuttgart, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Das goldene Zeitalter, 23 November 1991 - 9 February 1992, repr. p. 136 (exhibition view Zurich 1984); edition 4/6.
1992	Rivara, Castello di Rivara, Il gioco del pensiero, 4-31 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 30, not repr.
2020	Bologna, Galleria Enrico Astuni, Vado al massimo. Cronache dall’Italia postmoderna, 20 June - 30 September, col. repr. pp. 26 (detail), 27 (exhibition view, with simulated ceiling), 67 (exhibition view, without the installation of the foot), 101 (exhibition view Bologna 1990, detail); unnumbered edition.
2023	Bruxelles, Baronian, Da Torino. Giorgio Griffa, Giulio Paolini, Gilberto Zorio, 7 September - 10 November; edition 4/6.

Bibliography

•	Giulio Paolini. Werke und Schriften 1960-1980 (Lucerne: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1981), repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Rome 1980).
•	W.M. Faust, “Et quid amabo: Notizen zu Arbeiten von Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini. Del bello intelligibile, exhibition catalogue, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 1982, p. 23, not repr.
•	S. Vertone, “Non tutto qui”, in Giulio Paolini. “Tutto qui”, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), p. 38, repr. no. 33 (exhibition view Rome 1980).
•	Paul Maenz Ausstellungen / Exhibitions. Saison / Season 1985-86 (Cologne: Galerie Paul Maenz, 1986), repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Cologne 1986).
•	G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 135 (exhibition view Bologna 1990, detail).
•	B. Corà, “Giulio Paolini: ‘Signore e Signori…’”, in Giulio Paolini. Signore e Signori... Un’opera di Giulio Paolini al Museo di Capodimonte, exhibition catalogue, Naples, Museo di Capodimonte (Naples: Electa, 1988), p. 14, repr. (exhibition view Bologna 1990, detail).
•	F. Poli, “Note di lettura”, in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), p. 40, not repr.; republished in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), p. 65.
•	L. Van den Abeele, “Laurent Busine”, in Artefactum 7, no. 35 (Antwerp), September-October, 1990, repr. p. 45 (exhibition view Charleroi 1986).
•	Paul Maenz Köln 1970-1980-1990. Eine Avantgarde-Galerie und die Kunst unserer Zeit / An Avant-Garde Gallery and the Art of Our Time, edited by G. de Vries (Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag, 1991), repr. pp. 32 (with the artist as he sets up the work, Cologne 1981), 204 (exhibition view Cologne 1986).
•	D. von Drathen, “Giulio Paolini. Der blinde Blick des Sehers”, in Künstler. Kritisches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst 33, no. 7 (Munich: Weltkunst-Bruckmann Verlag, 1996), p. 10, repr. p. 8 (detail); republished in Id., Vortex of silence. Proposition for an art criticism beyond aesthetic categories (Milan: Edizioni Charta, 2004), p. 228, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, op. cit. (Ostfildern-Ruit: 1998), repr. pp. 259, 260 (exhibition view Bologna 1990, with details).
•	Die Sammlung Paul Maenz Neues Museum Weimar. Band I: Objekte, Bilder, Installationen (Weimar-Ostfildern-Ruit: Neues Museum and Hatje Cantz Verlag, 1999), repr. cat. no. 83 p. 119 (exhibition view Bologna 1990, detail), catalogue entry by H. Dickel (with incorrect list of exhibitions).
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 425 p. 435, repr. (exhibition view Amsterdam 1980, and exhibition view Bologna 1990, detail).
•	Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. pp. 168 (exhibition view Amsterdam 1980), 183 (exhibition view Vancouver 1985), col. repr. pp. 186-187 (exhibition view Zurich 1984), 197 (exhibition view Stuttgart 1986, detail), repr. p. 210 (exhibition view Bologna 1990, detail).

Entry by Maddalena Disch, 30/01/2026