In Pictures: See Inside the Italian Futurist Painter Giacomo Ballas Apartment, and Works From His Long-Awaited Retrospective in Rome – artnet News

Born in Turin in1871, artist Giacomo Balla went on to become one of the worlds best-known Modernist artists. Associated with the Italian Futurists, he left anindelible mark on the history of painting, uniting elements of fantasy with close studies of light, space, and movement.

Inspired by Eadweard Muybridges dynamic photographs, and along with peersUmberto Boccioni, Gino Severini, and Mario Sironi,Balla infused his works with the Futurist ethos that pervaded Italy in his day. It was not without controversy: members of the movement, including the poetFilippo Tommaso Marinetti, who wrote the Futurist Manifesto, were closely aligned with Italian Fascism.Those ties are what ledBalla to break with the group.

Alex Cecchettis Come la luna si vede a volte in pieno giorno at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

Ballas work is on view now at theFondazione MAXXI in Rome, the city in which he lived for more than 30 years. The show, titledCasa Balla: From the House to the Universe and Back,also includes a thematic exhibition of works inspired by Balla and his home.

The apartment where the artist and his family lived until his death in 1858, Casa Balla, is a kaleidoscopic space filled with cloud-scapes and mosaics, where each object, utensil, and article of clothing is a work of art unto itself. According to curators Bartolomeo Pietromarchi and Domitilla Dardi, the apartment is a truegesamtkunstwerk.

See more images from the exhibition and Ballas home below.

Detail of Ballas apartment at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

Detail of Ballas apartment at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

Detail of Ballas apartment at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

Detail of Ballas apartment at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

Detail of Ballas apartment at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

Detail of Ballas apartment at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

Detail of Ballas apartment at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

Detail of Ballas apartment at Fondazione MAXXI. Photo:Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini.

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In Pictures: See Inside the Italian Futurist Painter Giacomo Ballas Apartment, and Works From His Long-Awaited Retrospective in Rome - artnet News