“THE‘Art is the incessant effort to compete with the beauty of the flowers, and never succeeded, “said Marc Chagall. We discovered the enchantment of the blooms in wild nature and for millennia we have been trying to reproduce it in our gardensplaces that promise to “harmonize art and nature, creating beauty, which is a promise of happiness” writes the Spanish anthropologist and philosopher Santiago Beruete.
From the real gardens to their representation, the step is short. The Bible, in Genesis, provided us with the literary archetype par excellence in western culture, with the description of Eden, which inspired for centuries painters, writers, gardeners. This link between garden, culture and art is the theme of the seventh edition of Fuororticola, the widespread event conceived by Orticola of Lombardy -The Milanese plants and flower market exhibition (8-11 May) at the Montanelli Gardens-which will have the city of Milan as a scenario, and beyond.
From 29 April to 18 May museums, places of art, galleries, auction houses, shared vegetable gardens, botanical gardens and shops will be involved in this communion of beauty, between plants and flowers and the world of creativity. “Art plays an important role in modern society because it uses a universal language and is an excellent tool for cultural and environmental promoters” says Gianluca Brivio Sforza, president of Orticola di Lombardia.
Fuoriorticola 2025: an innovative look at a work
“Painters, sculptors, poets and writers have always inserted plants in their works»Comment Filippo Pizzoni, garden historian and vice -president of Orticola di Lombardia. «Often they did not have botanical skills, so they had to document themselves. D’Annunzio, for example, is aimed at expert friends to choose a plant to be mentioned in a poem. Francesco Hayez also inserts flowers in his paintings. In addition to the analysis of the art historian, sometimes the contribution of the booting is useful which is able to identify in a painting the presence of flowers that do not bloom at the same time “. And this observation, what reveals to us? «That the artist turned in several times among the gardens of his customers and observed carefully, to reproduce the flowers. For example, in a picture there are hybridized roses at the beginning of the nineteenth century in the United States. Hayez probably saw them in some garden ».
Piero Gilardi, Apples fall, 1967, Pinerolo, Cossa – Miradolo Castle Foundation.
Finding connections that allow you to combine different disciplines gives an innovative look at a work. “If the art historian is faced with a plant painted with different leaves, it might think that it is an error. But if it were Elso, for example, it is correct, because it produces leaves of different shapes in different modests »adds Pizzoni. “So, the painter did not make a mistake. We must not be afraid to combine Hayez or Brueghel with cut flowers. They are worlds that can dialogue ». And this is exactly the challenge it proposes out of the entry.
Flowers and plants at the Castello Sforzesco
“Gardens, flowers, nature play an important role already from Greco-Roman art, as a source of inspiration”. To speak is Francesca Tasso, director of the museums of the Castello Sforzesco who participate in Fuororticola. “Death are found in the Flemish art, or in the well -known Canestra di Caravaggio fruit at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. The plants are also present in the frescoes. At the Castello Sforzesco I suggest seeing Leonardo’s axis room frescoed with 16 mulberry trees whose branches intertwine in the vault. It is one of the first examples of Renaissance painting that reproduces a garden without human presence and has a trompe effect the OEIL, which gives the illusion of being outside “.
Plants and nature are also present in sculpture, and in art objects in less conventional materials. “Especially in the eighteenth century porcelain and majolica decorated with animals, insects, flowers, fruits with an amazing pictorial quality were made,” comments Tasso. “We also have the Trivulzio tapestries of the sixteenth century, a cycle that represents 12 months in the countryside, in the Balla room”.
Other materials used in artistic production are ceramic – “remarkable table pottery, in the shape of a vegetable, created in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries” continues Tasso – or wrought iron, especially in the liberty era, with floral decorations. «The challenge is to use the inanimate matter to make an effect of naturalism in reproductions. I think of the huge vase with a flower, in glass, by the artist Dale Chihuly, at the castle. A contemporary work that has the ability to transform cold and inert material into something soft, warm, natural »concludes.
Francesco Hayez, portrait of the Counting Antonietta Negroni Prati Morosini, 1858, Milan, Gallery of Modern Art.
Do not miss the “flowery windows”
This year for the first time all the Milanese civic museums and many other institutions, public and private, for a total of 36 appearances: from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum to Palazzo Morando, from the Rovati Foundation to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, only to name a few (info on (info on Orticola.org).
The Orticola ticket allows reduced entrance, obvious or free of charge in the outlet period. There will also be specially organized events. For example, at the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum there is the exhibition since then to today of the Jamaican artist Hugh Findletar who offers vessels set up with plants and flowers. This year they have also chosen to get involved numerous cultural institutions outside Milan, some villas and gardens of Lake Maggiore, Lario and Piedmont.
An image of the 2024 edition of Orticola, at the Montanelli Gardens in Milan. @Aldo Castoldi
To seal the relationship between plants, art and cities of Milan there is the initiative “Vetrinefiorite”, which has a truly innovative cultural cut. It will be a widespread exhibition that takes its cue from the theme of this year of Orticola: “Bio, Bio, Bio: in the garden there is life!”. Each cultural institution will choose a work present in its collections. “Our idea, of which we are very proud, is a cultural-blue tour that involves museums, art galleries, botanical gardens, historic gardens, showcases and floral designers” points out Brivio Sforza. “In each showcase a floral designer will interpret the work of art of a museum. The public will be able to vote for both on our site and on Instagram ». Twenty -six are the professionals involved and 46 shops that will host their creations.
“It is an interesting challenge,” comments Simona Bracco called to create three compositions inspired by three different works. SortA will exhibit in the windows to which they have been combined, with a photographic reproduction of the selected art object: a wall painting from the Museum of the twentieth century, a work in polyurethane foam from the Castle of Miradolo – Cosso di Pinerolo Foundation, a nineteenth -century mobile from the Risorgimento Museum. In each work there are flowers or other plant elements. How will it work? «We have maximum freedom. The sensations are very counting, “comments Bracco.” I am not an expert of art, but my gaze is trained for work to colors, contrasts, nuances. With flowers you can create an atmosphere of peace and relaxation, they are a pampering but look at it ».
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