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Notti bianche, 1990
GPO-0661
White Nights
Framed photo print, primed canvases
Photo frame 61.5 x 48.5 cm, three primed canvases: 50 x 60 cm, 40 x 50 cm, 35 x 45.5 cm
The work was executed in a numbered edition of six.
| 1/6 | Present whereabouts unknown |
| 2/6 | Flavio Albanese Collection, Vicenza |
| 3/6 | Private collection |
| 4/6 | MASI Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana, Lugano. Cantone Ticino Collection |
| 5/6 | Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection, Lugano |
| 6/6 | Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, Turin |
| 4/6 | Gift of the artist, 2006, archive no. MCA2006/0014 |
| 6/6 | Gift of the artist, 25 October 2012, archive no. GPO-0661 |
A black portrait frame set atop an overturned canvas and partially hidden by two other overturned canvases, arranged in a horizontal position up against its sides, features the photograph of a man with his head on his arms.
The position of the protagonist who is surrounded by the blank canvases can be interpreted as a metaphor for the artist awaiting inspiration. In Paolini’s own words: "The title's allusion to sleepless nights recalls the symbolic solitude of the role of the author who is abandoned to the never-ending wait for enlightenment".1
The same theme was also developed in two subsequent versions made in 1994 (GPO-0723) and in 2000 (GPO-0853), respectively.
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2005), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 661 p. 677.
Image from the advertising page for the men’s perfume Eau Sauvage by Christian Dior.
| 1990 | Bari, Galleria Marilena Bonomo, Giulio Paolini, from 18 April. |
| 1990 | Turin, Galleria Christian Stein, Group Show, 10 November 1990 - 10 January 1991. |
| 1991 | Parma, Galleria Niccoli, Un’idea di leggerezza, 4 May - 18 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 54, col. repr. p. 46, referred to in the text by L. Cherubini p. 15; edition 2/6. |
| 1991-92 | Padua, Palazzo della Ragione, Quindicesima Biennale Internazionale del Bronzetto e della Piccola Scultura Padova 1991. L’avventura dell’oggetto, 27 October 1991 - 23 February 1992, repr. p. 113. |
| 1994 | Milan, Galleria Gian Ferrari Arte Contemporanea, Trasfigurazioni. La fotografia degli artisti italiani negli anni '90, 22 September - 19 November, col. repr. p. 45. |
| 1995 | Mira, Riviera del Brenta, Villa Widmann Foscari, Itinerario. Giulio Paolini, Domenico Bianchi, Bernhard Rüdiger, 8 June - 18 July, vol. Itinerario, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 34, repr. p. 19 (exhibition view). |
| 1998 | New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, Breaking Ground, 25 September - 7 November; edition 6/6. |
| 2002 | Bologna, Studio G7, Art Sweet Home, 9 November 2002 - 10 January 2003; edition 2/6. |
| 2003 | Merano, Kunst Meran im Haus der Sparkasse / Merano arte edificio Cassa di Risparmio, Meta.fisica: arte e filosofia da De Chirico all’Arte concettuale / Kunst und Philosophie von de Chirico bis zur Konzeptkunst, 11 September 2003 • 6 January 2004, col. repr. p. [159] (installation on incorrect support); edition 2/6. |
| 2003-04 | Brussels, Académie Royale de Belgique, Il nuovo rit-ratto d’Europa, 7 October - 30 November, touring to: Bologna, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna, San Giorgio in Poggiale, 15 January - 15 February 2004, col. repr. p. [75]; edition 4/6. |
| 2007 | Lugano, Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Affinità e complementi. Opere dai musei svizzeri in dialogo con la Collezione del Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano, 6 June - 9 September, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 142, col. repr. p. 164 (with incorrect overall dimensions); edition 4/6. |
| 2011 | Milan, Galleria Cardi, Arte Contemporanea in Italia, 29 September - 26 November; edition 3/6. |
| 2011 | Lugano, Museo d'Arte, Consonanze. Dialoghi nel tempo, 16 October 2011 - 8 January 2012, no catalogue; edition 4/6. |
| 2015 | Lugano, Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Fotografica. Immagini dalle collezioni del museo, Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano, 14 February - 26 April, no catalogue; edition 4/6. |
| 2021 | Lugano, Collezione Giancarlo e Danna Olgiati, selected works from the collection, 12 September 2021 - 9 January 2022, no catalogue; edition 5/6. |
| 2023 | Lugano, Collezione Giancarlo e Danna Olgiati, At the Studio, 26 March - 11 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works n. pag., col. repr. n. pag. (exhibition view), referred to in the text by A. Salvadori n. pag.; edition 5/6. |
| • | G. Paolini, in Trasfigurazioni. La fotografia degli artisti italiani negli anni '90, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Galleria Gian Ferrari Arte Contemporanea, 1994, p. 20. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2005), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 661 p. 677. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Il “Teatro” dell’opera, exhibition catalogue, Pesaro, Galleria Franca Mancini (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1991), col. repr. p. [51] (exhibition view Bari 1990). |
| • | La collection Christian Stein. Un regard sur l’art italien (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée and Art Édition, 1992), repr. p. 197, catalogue entry pp. 296-297. |
| • | E. Ercoli, “Intervista a Giulio Paolini”, in Next 35 (Rome), Autumn-Winter, 1995, repr. p. 17 (exhibition view Mira 1995). |
| • | Italia 2000. Arte e sistema dell’Arte, edited by A. Bonito Oliva (Madrid-Milan: ARCO Madrid and Giampaolo Prearo Editore, 2000), col. repr. p. 36 (exhibition view Bari 1990). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti (Milan: Electa, 2001), repr. p. 58 (exhibition view Bari 1990). |
| • | Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Studio G7 (Bologna: Damiani editore, 2008), col. repr. p. 90. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 661 p. 677, repr. (exhibition view Mira 1995). |
| • | … but, where is Bari? Percorso nell'arte contemporanea. La Galleria Bonomo dal 1971 / A Journey in contemporary art. The Bonomo Gallery since 1971 (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2010), col. repr. p. 100 (exhibition view Bari 1990). |
Entry by Maddalena Disch, 02/02/2026
