From Thursday 6 February, it is possible to admire two artworks from the UniCredit Art Collection at the exhibition Facile ironia. L'ironia nell'arte italiana tra XX e XXI secolo at Mambo in Bologna, curated by Lorenzo Balbi and Caterina Molteni.
The exhibition, with more than 100 artworks and archive documents by more than 70 artists - from the 1950s to the present day - aims to trace the history of Italian art through the theme of irony.
Italian artists from several generations have shared an anti-tragic aesthetic and existential strategy that embraces the “cosmic joke” of reality.
Among them, Antonio Donghi was selected with two artworks from the UniCredit Art Collection: L'ammestratrice di cani of 1946 and Il giocoliere del 1936.
Matured in the shadow of the so-called Return to Order, after the excesses brought about by the Avant-gardes, and the need for stable and safe references in which to take refuge after the disasters of the war, Donghi pursued and found a kind of abstract concreteness in his painting career.
A super-reality that reveals in its apparent verism a veil of real fantastic transformation. He impressed scholars and the public alike with his abstract yet realistic imagery. After a critical silence of many decades, starting in the 1980s, he is now considered one of Italy's leading artists.
The exhibition runs until 7 September 2025.
For further information: Facile ironia. L'ironia nell'arte italiana tra XX e XXI secolo
