(Turin 1871–1958 Rome)
Linee andamentali + fiore - Motivo per tappeto, 1920–1925, signed FuturBalla, tempera on paper laid down on canvas, 97 x 114.5 cm, framed

Photo certificate:
Luce Balla (daughter of the artist)
Listed as no. 942 in the family log book of works by G. Balla
Elena Gigli, archive no. 2014 587, Rome, 1/4/2014

Provenance:
Atelier Balla, Rome –
acquired there by Giancarlo Molino for his gallery in Rome
Galleria Molino, Rome, until 1972
Brerarte, Milan, auction May 1973
A. Zaraga Collection, Milan - acquired at the above-mentioned auction
Private Collection, Italy

When visiting Giacomo Balla’s studio in March 1922, Benedetta Marinetti’s brother called it “the workshop of colour”, where “paintings, screens, lamps hang everywhere in a confusion of shades”. He then concludes by saying, “Balla stole from nature the secret of light and colour. Light and colour, that is, the secret of Life”.
According to his manifesto, The Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe (1915), Balla intended to “create a total fusion in order to reconstruct the universe by making it more joyful, in other words by recreating it entirely”. Giacomo Balla always lived in close contact with nature, and when he moved to Rome in 1895 he decided to live opposite Villa Borghese. He created innumerable works using the green hue of lawns, he reconstructed artificial flowers, which became “balfiori” in the 1920s, and invented floral motifs for embroideries that were later executed by his daughter, Luce. The simplicity of nature always remained his gospel. In this colourful, dynamic, magical atmosphere, we find the motif of directional lines+flower against a light blue sky: a bright yellow is combined with orange, whilst the green shade of the grass alternates with the cerulean hue of the sky. The use of violet underlines the naturalness of the floral corollas, swinging in the wind along directional lines. “Simplicity is the basis of beauty, which is always the result of the perfect truth of the elements, and all great works find their expression through very simple technical means”.
ELENA GIGLI