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Vedo (la decifrazione del mio campo visivo), 1969
GPO-0188
I See (The Deciphering of My Visual Field)
Pencil on wall
225 x 375 cm
Collection of the artist
The multitude of points made in pencil on the wall retraces the area corresponding to the visual field of both the author and the viewer. “Vedo is the abstract and conceptual scheme of vision, it is the translation into figures of the phenomenon of seeing”,1 the artist says.
In the first realization of the work on 15 July 1969, Paolini "deciphered" his visual field on fifteen sheets of drawing paper pinned to the wall of his studio. Since 1970, he has instead traced the points directly on the wall.
The work was replicated in a version on canvas made during the same year (GPO-0189), while the theme of Vedo was subsequently developed in four other variants (GPO-0276, GPO-0512, GPO-1051, GPO-1068).
1 G. Paolini interviewed by A. Bonito Oliva, in Paolini: opere 1961/73, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1973, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 152.
| 1969 | Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 6e Biennale de Paris, 2 October - 2 November, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 7 p. 82, not repr.; work executed on sheets of paper. |
| 1970 | Rome, QUI arte contemporanea, Giulio Paolini. Vedo, 20 January - 7 February, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, not repr.; work executed on sheets of paper. |
| 1970 | Turin, Galleria Notizie, Giulio Paolini. Vedo, 18 February - 20 March, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, repr. (six details of the artist as he makes the work on sheets of paper in July 1969); work executed on sheets of paper. |
| 1971 | Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, New Italian Art 1953-71, 22 July - 11 September, no. 64 p. 98 (dated “1969-71”), not repr. |
| 1972 | Kassel, Museum Fridericianum, Documenta 5, 30 June - 8 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 32, repr. p. 16.60; first execution on a wall. |
| 1973 | Zurich, Galerie Annemarie Verna, Giulio Paolini, 19 October - 30 November. |
| 1973 | Milan, Studio Marconi, Paolini: opere 1961/73, from 15 November, repr. n. pag. |
| 1978 | Venice, Giardini di Castello, Biennale di Venezia: XXXVIII Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte. Dalla natura all’arte, dall’arte alla natura: sei stazioni per artenatura, 2 July - 15 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 2 p. 56, not repr. |
| 1984 | Villeurbanne, Le Nouveau Musée, Giulio Paolini, 20 January - 18 March, vol. Images/Index repr. pp. 42-43. |
| 1986 | Charleroi, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Giulio Paolini, 15 February - 30 March, same catalogue as for the solo exhibition in Villeurbanne 1984. |
| 1986 | Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Giulio Paolini, 20 September - 2 November, cited in the checklist of exhibited works vol. 4 no. 12 p. 51, repr. vol. 4 p. 23, referred to in the text by M. Scholz-Hänsel vol. 2 p. 11. |
| 2017 | Lugano, Spazio -1, Torino 1966-1973, 9 April - 23 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 307, repr. p. 273. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with A. Bonito Oliva, "Dentro il linguaggio", in Paolini: opere 1961/73, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1973, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 152. |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), p. 46 (note taken from a commentary on the work Glossario, 1975, GPO-0301, followed by the text concerning the works exhibited in 1970 at the solo exhibition "Vedo" and later published as a commentary on the work Vedo). |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), p. 102. |
| • | Processi di pensiero visualizzati. Junge italienische Avantgarde, exhibition catalogue, Lucerne, Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1970, repr. n. pag. |
| • | Conceptual Art, Arte Povera, Land Art, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, 1970, repr. p. 99 (caption p. 203; six details of the artist as he makes the work on sheets of paper in July 1969). |
| • | T. Trini, "Arte Povera, Land Art, Conceptual Art: l’opera sparita e diffusa", in Arte illustrata 3, nos. 34-35-36 (Milan), October-November-December, 1970, p. 47, repr.; republished in Tommaso Trini. Mezzo secolo di arte intera. Scritti 1964-2014, edited by L. Cerizza (Milan: Johan & Levi Editore, 2016), p. 315, not repr. |
| • | Arte e Critica 70, exhibition catalogue, Modena, Galleria della Sala di Cultura, 1970, repr. n. pag. |
| • | Arte Povera: 13 italienische Künstler. Dokumentation und neue Werke, exhibition catalogue, Munich, Kunstverein München, 1971, repr. |
| • | New Italian Art: 1953-1971, exhibition catalogue, Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 1971, p. 99, not repr. |
| • | A. Bonito Oliva, Il territorio magico. Comportamenti alternativi dell’arte (Florence: Centro Di, 1971), repr. p. 158. |
| • | G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), p. 84, repr. no. 78 p. 82; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 282; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | N. Orengo, "Giulio Paolini. Dipingere la pittura", in Fuoricampo 1, no. 2 (Turin), June, 1973, p. 4, repr. p. 6. |
| • | T. Trini, “Giulio Paolini, un decennio. Parte prima: Il vero e il visibile”, in Data 3, no. 7-8, (Milan), Summer, 1973, p. 61, repr. p. 64; republished in Tommaso Trini, op. cit., (Milan: 2016), pp. 105 -106, not repr.). |
| • | G. Celant, "Image of the Image", in Art and artists 9, no. 98 (London), May, 1974, p. 17, not repr.; republished in G. Celant, Senza titolo 1974 (Rome: Bulzoni, 1976), p. 261, repr. no. 145. |
| • | G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), repr. pp. 40-41 (three details of the artist as he makes the work on sheets of paper in July 1969); new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), repr. pp. 66-67 (three details of the artist as he makes the work on sheets of paper in July 1969). |
| • | Didattica, exhibition catalogue, Modigliana, Ente Premio Silvestro Lega, 1975, repr. n. pag. |
| • | M. Fagiolo, "Glossario", in Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), p. 27, repr. no. 115. |
| • | T. Trini, "Come l’immaginario si ribella all’immaginazione", in Data 20 (Milan), March-April, 1976, repr. p. 88. |
| • | Arte in Italia 1960-1977. Dall’opera al coinvolgimento. L’opera: simboli e immagini. La linea analitica, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, 1977, repr. p. 53. |
| • | J.C. Ammann, "Europe in the Seventies: aspects of recent art", in Europe in the Seventies: aspects of recent art, exhibition catalogue, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1977, p. 12, not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, op. cit. (Milan: 1979), repr. p. 47. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1980, repr. pp. 24 (contact sheet portraying the artist while making the work at the Studio Marconi, Milan, 1973), 25 (detail of the drawing on the wall). |
| • | C. Ferrari, "Giulio Paolini", in Luoghi del silenzio imparziale, exhibition catalogue [In labirinto], Milan, Palazzo della Permanente (Milan: Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, 1981), p. 110, repr. p. 112. |
| • | Identité Italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, edited by G. Celant (Paris-Florence: Centre Georges Pompidou and Centro Di, 1981), p. 315, repr. pp. 315, 320. |
| • | F. Poli, in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1984, n. pag., not repr.; republished as "L’io dell’artista, l’io della pittura", in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), p. 13. |
| • | Coerenza in coerenza. Dall’Arte Povera al 1984, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Mole Antonelliana (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1984), repr. p. 146. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. La Casa di Lucrezio, exhibition catalogue, Spoleto, Palazzo Rosari Spada (Casalecchio di Reno: Grafis Edizioni, 1984), repr. p. 14. |
| • | A. Bonito Oliva, Dialoghi d’artista. Incontri con l’arte contemporanea 1970-1984 (Milan: Electa, 1984), repr. p. 221. |
| • | C. Spadoni, "Giulio Paolini", in Figure. Teoria e critica dell’arte 3, no. 7 (Rome), 1984, p. 92, not repr.; republished in Id., Storie d’arte e di critica tra Ottocento e Novecento (Imola: Maretti Editore, 2021), p. 247, not. repr. |
| • | D. Soutif, "La transparence du cygne", in Paolini. Melanconia ermetica, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Galerie Maeght Lelong, 1985, p. 24, not repr. |
| • | Italia Aperta, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, Fundación Caja de Pensiones, 1985, repr. p. 47 (rotated by 90 degrees clockwise). |
| • | B. Corà, "Tutto qui (o la preesistenza dell’opera in Giulio Paolini)", in Giulio Paolini. “Tutto qui”, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), pp. 18-19, repr. no. 16. |
| • | S. Vertone, "Non tutto qui", ibid., p. 35. |
| • | G. Paolini, Voix off (Mâcon: Éditions W, 1986), repr. p. 31. |
| • | C. Christov-Bakargiev, "Arte Povera 1967-1987", in Flash Art 137 (Milan, international edition), November-December, 1987, pp. 59, 69, not repr. |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. pp. 26-27 (contact sheet portraying the artist while making the work at the Studio Marconi, Milan, 1973). |
| • | 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. |
| • | A. Monferini, "Paolini e l’arte concettuale", in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (Milan-Rome: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore and De Luca Edizioni d’Arte, 1988), p. 8, not repr. |
| • | F. Poli, Giulio Paolini, op. cit. (Turin: 1990), pp. 13 (part I: "L’io dell’artista, l’io della pittura"), 30 (part II: "Note di lettura"); 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. 49, repr. no. 78. |
| • | G. de Marchis, Scusi ma è arte questa? Guida illustrata all’avanguardia e alla neoavanguardia (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1991), p. 280, repr. p. 360. |
| • | S. Vertone, "Il pronome in anticamera", in Inside Out – Museo Città Eventi, exhibition catalogue, Prato, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci (Milan: Edizioni Charta, 1993), p. 25, repr. |
| • | M. Bertoni, "Giulio Paolini. Dove Vedo", in Critica e Documentazione 7, supplement to the bimonthly journal Segno 132 (Pescara), April, 1994, p. 19, not repr.; republished in Id., Tempi e forme. Una ricerca sulle arti visive contemporanee (Turin: Hopefulmonster editore, 1998), p. 206, not repr. |
| • | L. Cherubini, "Traguardo dello sguardo", in Giulio Paolini. L’opera in palio, exhibition catalogue, Siena, Salone di Palazzo Patrizi (Florence: Maschietto & Musolino, 1994), p. 9, not repr. |
| • | F. Poli, Minimalismo, Arte Povera, Arte Concettuale (Bari: Editori Laterza, 1995), p. 178, not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini al Palazzo della Ragione, exhibition catalogue, Padua, Salone del Palazzo della Ragione (Milan: Fabbri Editori, 1995), repr. p. 22. |
| • | E. Di Raddo, "Verso i Settanta (1968-70). Arte in Italia negli anni ’70", in Verso i Settanta (1968-70). Arte in Italia negli anni ’70, exhibition catalogue, Erice, "La Salerniana", ex Convento di San Carlo (Milan: Edizioni Charta, 1996), p. 48, repr. p. 47. |
| • | 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. 3, repr. p. 5 (with incorrect technique); republished in Id., Vortex of silence. Proposition for an art criticism beyond aesthetic categories (Milan: Edizioni Charta, 2004), p. 221, not repr. |
| • | G. Joppolo, L’Arte Povera. Les années fondatrices (Paris: Fall Edition, 1996), p. 44, not repr. |
| • | A. Coulange, "La conversion universelle des choses en images", in Id., Giulio Paolini. Carnets de la commande publique (Paris: ƒditions du Regard, 1997), p. 22, repr. p. 24; republished in Id., L’œil indiscret (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2003), p. 144, not repr. |
| • | Arte italiana 1945-1995. Il visibile e l’invisibile, exhibition catalogue, Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, 1997, repr. p. 141. |
| • | C. Bertola, "Il quadro che contiene tutti i quadri", in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, op. cit. (Ostfildern-Ruit: 1998), p. 101, repr. pp. 21, 229. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Turin, GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Turin: Hopefulmonster, 1999), repr. p. 7. |
| • | R. Lachat, L’Art en Italie 1945-1995 (Paris: Nouvelles éditions françaises, 1999), p. 145, not repr. |
| • | A. Fernandéz Polanco, Arte Povera (San Sebastián: Editorial Nerea, 1999), p. 85, not repr. |
| • | C. Christov-Bakargiev, Arte Povera (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1999), pp. 37, 134, repr. p. 134. |
| • | J. de Sanna, Forma. L’idea degli artisti 1943-1997 (Ancona-Milan: Universitaria Costa & Nolan, 1999), pp. 110-111, 175-176, not repr. |
| • | M. Dalla Bernardina, "Les autoportraits de Giulio Paolini", in Ligeia 29-32 (Paris), October 1999 - June 2000, p. 8, not repr. |
| • | Arte povera in collezione (Rivoli-Milan: Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea and Edizioni Charta, 2000), repr. p. 310. |
| • | Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972, exhibition catalogue, London, Tate Modern, 2001, repr. p. 168. |
| • | (E così via) (And so on). 99 Artists from the Marzona Collection. Arte Povera – Minimal Art – Concept Art – Land Art (Berlin: Berlin Press, 2001), repr. n. pag. (upside down). |
| • | Art Works. Sammlung Marzona – Kunst um 1968 / The Marzona Collection – Art around 1968 / La collezione d’arte Marzona – L’arte degli anni intorno al 1968, exhibition catalogue, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld (Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2001), p. 133, not repr. |
| • | D. Lancioni, "Squadratura, quadro, quadrante", in Giulio Paolini: Quadrante. Viaggio intorno a un’idea di esposizione, exhibition catalogue, Edizioni dell’Oca, Roma 2002, p. 60, not repr. |
| • | La Poetica dell’Arte Povera, exhibition catalogue, Magdeburg, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen (Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2003), repr. p. 204. |
| • | Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, op. cit. (Milan: 2003), repr. pp. 292, 293 (detail), 390. |
| • | C. Bertola, "Il pescatore di perle", in Giulio Paolini. L’ora X, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Fondazione Querini Stampalia (Prato: Gli Ori, 2004), pp. 65-66, not repr. |
| • | Arte Povera, exhibition catalogue, Toyota, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, 2005, repr. pp. 129, 210-211 (contact sheet portraying the artist while making the work at the Studio Marconi, Milan, 1973). |
| • | 30/40. A Selection of Forty Artists from Thirty Years of Exhibitions at Marian Goodman Gallery, exhibition catalogue, New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, 2007, repr. p. 89. |
| • | L. Cherubini, "Hic et nunc", in Risonanze #2. Giulio Paolini & Fabio Vacchi, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Spazio Risonanze, Auditorium Parco della Musica (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2008), p. 60, repr. p. 18 (detail). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 188 p. 202, repr. |
| • | R. Ferrario, Giulio Paolini. Un viaggio a distanza (Busto Arsizio: Nomos Edizioni, 2009), pp. 63-64 (with incorrect description of the work exhibited in Kassel), repr. pp. 10, 62. |
| • | D. Lancioni, "Un enigma in prospettiva", in Giulio Paolini. Gli uni e gli altri. L'enigma dell'ora, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Milan: Skira editore, 2010), pp. 21, 70, repr. p. 22. |
| • | G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storia e storie (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), p. 60, text taken from the author’s 1972 monograph on Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press), repr. |
| • | P. Bonani, "Discorso e controdiscorso dell'arte concettuale", in Anni 70. Arte a Roma, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome: Iacobelli Editore, 2013), p. 49, repr. |
| • | J. Lageira, "Giulio Paolini. Ut pictura poesis", in Id., Regard oblique. Essais sur la perception (Brussels: La Lettre volée, 2013), p. 85, 87, repr. p. 86. |
| • | E. Franz, "‘Vedo e non vedo’", in E. Franz et al., Giulio Paolini. Vedo e non vedo. In tema 1 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2014), p. 26, repr. p. 64. |
| • | E. Volpato, "L’Ile enchantée. La visione è cieca", ibid., pp. 60, 62. |
| • | J. Meinhardt, "Vedere ed essere visti. Giulio Paolini e lo sguardo", ibid., p. 102. |
| • | C. Sylos Calò, "Al di là del visibile: il disegno italiano tra il 1968 e il 1972", in Horti Hesperidum 2 (Rome), biannual online journal, 2014, pp. 246-247, repr. p. 254. |
| • | C. Macchi, "‘Il cavo del pensiero’, drawing as enlightened thought in Arte Povera: exposure and underexposure", in Towards Visibility. Exhibiting Contemporary Drawing 1964-80, edited by J. Enckell Julliard (Vevey-Paris: Musée Jenisch and Roven Éditions, 2015), p. 141, not repr. |
| • | L. Conte, "Una totalità come ‘possibile’", in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, 2017, p. 30, repr. p. 26. |
| • | I. Bernardi, Giulio Paolini. Opere su carta: un laboratorio gestuale per la percezione dell’immagine (Turin: Prinp Editore, 2017), pp. 90, 92, 189, 207, repr. p. 90. |
| • | M.G. Messina, "Strade parallele di Marisa Volpi e di Giulio Paolini, 1968-1973", in Ricerche di storia dell’arte 124 (Rome), 2018, pp. 100, 102, 106, repr. p. 100. |
| • | L. Iamurri, Giulio Paolini. Teresa nella parte di Giovanna d’Arco in prigione (tavola ottica), 1969. In collezione 5 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2018), p. 42, repr. p. 38. |
| • | G. Biagi, "Alighiero Boetti 1972", in Studi di Memofonte 21 (Florence), biannual online journal, 2018, pp. 116, 118-119, repr. p. 119. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Del Bello ideale, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Fondazione Carriero (London: Koenig Books, 2019), repr. vol. 1 p. 163, vol. 2 pp. 22-23 (detail). |
| • | M. Disch, "The Author, the Work and the Viewer: The ‘Performative’ Dimension in Giulio Paolini’s Work", in Entrare nell’opera. Processes and Performative Attitudes in Arte Povera, exhibition catalogue, Vaduz, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2019), pp. 190-191, not repr.; in the German edition published in 2021 p. 82, not repr. |
| • | F. Guzzetti, “Galleria Sperone and Other Venues in Turin”, ibid., p. 334. |
| • | B. Corà, “I contemporanei di Dadamaino”, in Dadamaino. Dare tempo allo spazio, (Milan: A Arte Invernizzi, 2019), p. 289, repr. p. 60. |
| • | L. Madaro, “Ordine e rigore nell’archivio di Giulio Paolini”, in Arte 574 (Milan), June, 2021, repr. p. 80. |
| • | F. Poli, “Giulio Paolini. La vertigine ironica della visione”, in Giulio Paolini. O.D.E., exhibition catalogue, Monforte d’Alba (Cuneo), Castello di Perno (Alba: Fondazione Mancini Carini, 2022), p. 58, not repr. |
| • | F. Bosco, “Disegno vero e disegno finto: truth and drawing in the 1970s”, in Burlington Contemporary (London), biannual online journal, June, 2023, repr. |
| • | F. Poli, L’ironia è una cosa seria. Strategie dell’arte d’avanguardia e contemporanea (Monza: Johan & Levi editore, 2024), p. 174, not repr. |
Entry by Maddalena Disch, 03/03/2025
