No Heroes. Marino Marini at Forte Belvedere

16 july-16 october

curated by Sergio Risaliti

Marino Marini, Horse and Rider, 1949–1950, bronze, 173.5 × 76.5 × 113 cm. Museo Marino Marini, Florence.

From 16 July, the exhibition project Drama: Four Acts enters a new chapter with the opening of "No Heroes", an exhibition dedicated to Marino Marini at Forte Belvedere

Promoted by the Municipality of Florence and produced by Fondazione MUS.E, with the scientific coordination of Museo Novecento and conceived and curated by Sergio Risaliti, Drama: Four Acts inaugurated Belvedere Firenze's cultural summer through an exhibition programme that intertwines contemporary art, historical heritage and landscape. Conceived as a drama in four acts unfolding throughout the summer, the project brings together artists and artistic languages from different periods.

"The dialogue with Paolo Canevari offers a surprisingly contemporary reading of Marino Marini's work," says Sergio Risaliti, Director of Museo Novecento. "The exhibition is structured around a dramaturgical approach that emphasises contrast while simultaneously reversing meanings. The subjects undergo a shift in interpretation: the Bather becomes a mourning woman, kneeling at the foot of a Calvary, a figure overwhelmed by grief and the ineffable, intensifying the tension between vitality and pessimism, irony and nihilism, creative energy and destructive forces, power and innocence. While Canevari confronts viewers with the contradictions and violence of the present through industrial materials transformed into disturbing images, Marini explores the same human fragility through the timeless language of sculpture and the archetypal figures of the Horse and Rider, the Dancer and the Prisoner. Their dialogue transcends chronology, revealing a shared reflection on the destiny of humankind, conflict and dehumanisation, making the Fortress of San Giorgio a place where past and present converge."

Following the opening of Paolo Canevari's solo exhibition God Year on 24 June, the second act of Drama: Four Acts focuses on one of the greatest masters of twentieth-century sculpture. No Heroes presents a selection of five bronze sculptures by Marino Marini in dialogue with Canevari's works, creating an installation of remarkable emotional and conceptual intensity.

Installed on the first floor of the Palazzina, the exhibition explores history through the encounter between Marino Marini and Paolo Canevari, investigating the deepest dimensions of the human condition, conflict and the crisis of humanist civilisation. Marini's sculptures, distinguished by their expressive power and constant investigation of the human figure and its archetypes, engage with Canevari's contemporary language, which employs industrial and reclaimed materials to evoke historical, social and political tensions.

At the heart of Marino Marini's artistic research lies the recurring theme of the Horse and Rider, conceived as a metaphor for the human condition and the relationship between the individual, nature and history. While the works of the 1930s retain a monumental balance and classical harmony, the experience of the Second World War, the Holocaust and the threat of nuclear catastrophe profoundly transformed this imagery. Bodies became rigid, forms increasingly angular, and the horse reared violently, throwing its rider to the ground, as in the Miracles series. The loss of equilibrium became a powerful metaphor for modern humanity, overwhelmed by forces it could no longer control.

In Marini's mature work, the Horse and Rider evolve into a profound reflection on the crisis of modern civilisation. No longer symbols of heroism, they embody humanity's vulnerability in the face of an increasingly technological and industrial society marked by war, violence and dehumanisation. This vision reaches its fullest expression in the Miracles and Cries series, where fractured, distorted and screaming bodies convey the tragic experience of the twentieth century. Marini regarded nuclear energy and unchecked technological progress as symbols of a humanity incapable of mastering its own inventions. Consequently, the horse and rider become "strange fossils," emblems of a world destined to disappear. Equally significant is the figure of the Prisoner, reduced to its essential form and embodying humanity as helpless, defeated and sacrificed to history, violence and the destructive ambitions of power. Through these sculptures, Marini transforms the medium into a profound meditation on the human condition and the fate of modern civilisation.

Marino Marini, "Bather", 1938, bronze, 82 × 40 × 60.5 cm. Museo Marino Marini, Florence.

Also on view is Bather, whose crouching pose recalls Michelangelo's celebrated Youth. In Marini's interpretation, however, the figure is imbued with a sense of introspective melancholy, discouragement and quiet resignation. Completing the selection of five sculptures is Dancer, installed in a gallery alongside Paolo Canevari's monumental tyre sculptures. Like the Juggler, the dancer belongs to the world of the circus, a realm of acrobatics, theatrical illusion and playful transformation that profoundly fascinated Marini. If the artist's mature work marks the dissolution of the heroic ideal—once emblematic of a triumphant yet ultimately disillusioned humanity after the devastation of war and the threat of technological catastrophe—the circus performer and the dancer emerge as symbols of resilience, imagination and hope. They evoke a primordial age in which creativity, playfulness and irony shaped both art and the sacred, offering an antidote to the forces of violence and dehumanisation that undermine every humanist ideal.

With No Heroes, Drama: Four Acts continues its exploration of the dialogue between historical heritage and contemporary artistic practice, transforming Forte Belvedere into a stage where memory and the present continually intersect. The project will continue in September with Oscuro Abbagliante, a site-specific installation by Norwegian artist Per Barclay.

Marino Marini

Marino Marini (Pistoia, 1901 – Viareggio, 1980) is widely regarded as one of the most important Italian sculptors of the twentieth century. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence under Galileo Chini and Domenico Trentacoste, he established an international reputation during the 1930s, exhibiting throughout Europe and receiving the First Prize for Sculpture at the Rome Quadriennale in 1935. He later taught at the I.S.I.A. in Monza and at the Brera Academy in Milan. During the Second World War he took refuge in Switzerland, where he came into contact with leading European artists. After the war his international recognition grew rapidly: the 1948 Venice Biennale devoted a solo room to his work, and his sculptures were subsequently exhibited across Europe, the United States and Japan.

Marini's artistic practice revolves around two recurring themes: the Horse and Rider and the Pomona figures. The former became a powerful metaphor for the human condition. The balanced and harmonious compositions of the 1930s gradually gave way, after the trauma of war, to rearing horses and fallen riders, embodying the crisis of modern humanity and the loss of control over history. The Pomonas, by contrast, celebrate vitality, fertility and harmony through monumental forms inspired by Etruscan and Classical sculpture while remaining deeply rooted in modern sculptural language. Together, these two subjects define the core of Marini's artistic vision and establish him as one of the central figures of twentieth-century sculpture.

Informations:

Marino Marini: "No Heroes"

16 july – 16 october

Forte Belvedere, Florence