Candela e pacchetto di tre stelle, 1940

Candelae pacchetto di tre stelle (Candle and Pack of Three Stars), 1940, is, as the artist recalled, one of first paintings he made in his studio on via Pompeo Magno in Rome, a place that would soon become one of the principal venues for encounters and exchange of ideas for an important segment of the Italian art world. This work belongs to a series of still lifes that Guttuso began in 1940 and would continue with great intensity until 1942 and beyond. It is no accident that 1942 is also the date of his well-known Crocifissione (Crucifixion), for which he won the Premio Bergamo. [...]