Venere degli stracci, 1967

At the beginning of his career as an artist, Michelangelo Pistoletto focused on the search of his own identity, producing several self-portraits. The surfaces of his works progressed from being pictorial and shiny to becoming metallic and reflective and thus able to capture not only the figure of the artist, but also his relationship with the world. As in other works executed during the same period, in Lampadina (Light Bulb) and Ragazza che cammina (Girl Walking), both dated 1962-1966, the representation of an ordinary object or a detail tied with everyday existence is obtained through a painted tissue paper, applied to a stainless steel sheet polished to a mirror surface. Opening up to a dialogue, the mirror surface is ready to reflect the world, including the uniqueness of each visitor who is encountered, infinitely expanding the images and situations that the work can contain. [...]