Domenico Chiarolanza - Self-Portrait - Homage to Van Gogh

The work is inspired by the famous "Self-Portrait with a Grey Felt Hat" by Vincent Van Gogh in 1887. The self-portrait is a genre that has been widespread throughout the history of art up to the present day. The first examples date back to the Middle Ages, but not as an independent genre, but rather contextualized within a work. As the artist's self-awareness and his role developed, self-portraits, especially those set within other works, began to gain popularity during the Renaissance. The first examples of independent self-portraits, however, date back to the 16th century. Often, the artist's self-portrait serves as a sort of stylistic manifesto for the painter who conceived it. Domenico Chiarolanza, starting from these premises, creates his homage to Van Gogh, successfully translating the Dutch master's prerogatives into sculptural material.

The beauty of this work lies precisely in the mastery sculptor Domenico Chiarolanza demonstrates in translating the spirit of Van Gogh's art into a silver bas-relief. Indeed, the reproduction of the famous self-portrait is flawless not only in its composition but also in its depiction of the great Dutch master's signature style. Van Gogh's art is distinguished by its bold, densely painted lines, which, drawing on the principles of Impressionism, take on a Symbolist connotation in the distinctive application of sinuous, curved, concentric trajectories, just as in the painting that inspired Chiarolanza's sculpture. The same paths and trajectories of the brushstroke that suggest, behind the self-portrait, the desire to express more hidden and reconciled meanings, are reproduced in this sculpture with great precision, also taking advantage of the expressive effect afforded by the third dimension.

Domenico Chiarolanza was born on February 21, 1949, in Naples. He lives and works between New York, Madrid, and Athens. Recent exhibitions in Athens, Casablanca, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and other Latin American cities are noteworthy. Trained in the most ancient and sound tradition of Neapolitan realism, Chiarolanza combines both painting and engraving, as well as sculpture in low and high relief, with characteristics that hark back to the great influences of Caravaggio, Ribera, and Bruegel—artists who are integral to the life and history of Naples and whose masterpieces, from 1500 to the 19th-century Posillipo School, brought Neapolitan culture, beauty, and traditions to the world.

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