Bagnanti

Despite the cold, hard stone, this artwork is full of dynamism. The veins of marble seem to reflect the sun sparkling on the water. And sometimes the marble even seems to bend with the wind, like the leaves on the trees or the ripples on the surface of the water. For Luciano Fabro, water symbolized the primordial sea from which all life arose. With very few means, he created a maximum effect.

“The Bathers” plays with an age-old theme in art. Artists usually depict bathing figures (mostly women) in a seemingly pristine and pure but carefully constructed “wild” landscape, as Fabro does here.

Italian artist Luciano Fabro continued the craft tradition of his country, but within the philosophy of Arte Povera, or “poor art,” that emerged in the late 1960s. That is, he worked with few resources and everyday materials (Carrara marble is a banal material in Italy). His work often refers to myths, history, and the work of other artists.