La fenêtre

This 1926 painting depicts the view from a window over a small terrace with a set of objects, presented to the viewer not as bearing witness to a mundane event but as a highly recherché still life (a “stille Leben” or “silent life”). The tree on the left twists to contrast with the cubical volumes of the constructions in the background. The nexus between the concrete memory of Cubist volumes and the psychological suspension deriving from metaphysical painting is particularly clear and effective here, combined with a subtle interplay between testimony to objective reality and transfer onto an evidently imaginary cultural plane. This work provides significant insight into some of the less “central” but nonetheless essential aspects of Italian and European painting between the wars.