CLAUDIO VERNA – CARTE

24 November 2024 – 26 January 2025

Curated by Veronica Zanardi e Massimo Bignardi
Critical essay by Massimo Bignardi

The Museo Butti | Contemporanea closes its first year of activity—following the latest redevelopment works of its new exhibition space—with a final anthological exhibition dedicated to the works on paper by painter Claudio Verna. The show is curated by the museum’s conservator Veronica Zanardi and Professor Massimo Bignardi, who also authored the critical essay published in the third volume of I quaderni del Butti.
The eighteen works on paper presented offer a well-balanced overview that highlights key turning points in Verna’s compositional choices—each time adding to or stripping away from his previous experiences. The journey is brief but meaningful: it begins with a series of black marker drawings from the late 1950s, moves on to the pastel works of the 1970s—when Verna emerged as one of the leading figures of Analytical Painting—and arrives at the most recent pieces, created in the first two decades of the 21st century.
Massimo Bignardi writes:
“The pastel technique shortens the distance between hand, fingers, and the surface of the paper.
By eliminating any further ‘prosthesis’, it allows a more direct thrust into the intangible space of the white sheet. It is no coincidence that Verna compares the pastel technique to modeling clay: not merely as a way to clarify a technical aspect, but as a genuine expression of how it feels—sensing the colored matter within a mental space where the scale of volumes relies on the proximity or distance of emotional states.
Verna himself encourages this reflection in his text How I Paint, published in the 2010 issue of Quaderni di Arte Contemporanea:
‘I have always believed that culture, thought, and past experiences eventually become part of your own nature and allow you to perceive impulses that emerge from deep within—perhaps long obscured.’”

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Claudio Verna was born in Guardiagrele, in the province of Chieti, in 1937.
From 1942 to 1956 he studied in Umbria, and later attended the University of Florence, where he graduated with a thesis on The Visual Arts in Industrial Civilization and held his first exhibitions.
In 1961 he moved to Rome, where he still lives and works.
For several years, he refrained from exhibiting in order to experiment and independently define the foundations of his artistic inquiry. In 1967, he resumed exhibiting, fully convinced of the “ancient and essential” reasons for painting. This marked his involvement in the movement known as Analytical Painting, focused on reflecting on the act of art-making and its relationship with modern tradition.
Having reached expressive maturity, Verna’s painting “moves between the poles of extreme rigor and intense emotional surrender.” Color is the undisputed protagonist of his work, with its ability to embody the highest values of saturation and light.
Following his debut at Galleria Numero in Florence in 1960, Verna has held over 120 solo and anthological exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including: Venice Biennale (1970, 1980), Museums of Gibellina (1988), Spoleto (1994), Ferrara (1997), Conegliano (1998), Treviso (2000), L’Aquila (2007), Fondazione Mudima, Milan (2012), MAG, Riva del Garda (2018), Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles (2015), Cardi Gallery, London and Milan (2018), Banca Generali Private, Rome (2023), Bugatti-Segantini Lifetime Achievement Award, Nova Milanese (2023), LABS Gallery, Bologna (2023), CIAC, Foligno (2024)
He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions and international surveys in Düsseldorf, London, Philadelphia, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Darmstadt, Cologne, Moscow, Leningrad, Grenoble, Nice, Prague, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and in many Italian cities, receiving several awards.
In 2008, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei awarded him the “Antonio Feltrinelli” Prize for Painting. He was also appointed as a member of the Accademia di San Luca.
In 2010, the Catalogue Raisonné of his work, edited by Volker W. Feierabend and Marco Meneguzzo, was published by Silvana Editoriale.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Personali

1960: Florence, Galleria Numero; catalogue text by U. Baldini, 20 February – 4 March

1968: Rome, Studio Arco d’Alibert; catalogue text by C. Vivaldi, 28 February – 15 March

1968: Rome, Studio Arco d’Alibert; catalogue text by C. Vivaldi, 28 February – 15 March
1970: Venice, 35th Biennale; catalogue text by G. Carandente, 24 June – 18 October
Milan, Galleria dell’Ariete; catalogue text by P. Dorazio, 14 October – November
Turin, Galleria Martano; catalogue text by N. Ponente, November – December

1971: Rome, Galleria Editalia; catalogue text by the artist, 10 November – 4 December

1972: Livorno, Galleria Peccolo; catalogue text by L. Lambertini, 19 February – March
Bochum, Galerie M, 8 – 28 September

1973: Genoa, Galleria La Polena; catalogue text by the artist, 11 January – 6 February
Milan, Galleria del Milione; catalogue text by F. Menna, 9 May – 9 June

1975: Verona, Studio La Città, 22 March – April

1976: Genoa, Galleria La Bertesca; catalogue text by the artist, 20 January – February
Milan, Galleria del Milione, 18 February – 22 March

1977: Copenhagen, Galerie Arnesen, 4 February – 4 March
Rome, Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, April – May

1978: Verona, Studio La Città, 2 December – 8 January 1979

1979: Genoa, Galleria La Polena; catalogue text by the artist, 18 January – 18 February
The Hague, Galerie Artline; catalogue text by D. Wintgens, 2 September – 14 October
Milan, Galleria del Milione; catalogue text by the artist, 7 November – 1 December

1980: Venice, 39th Biennale; catalogue text by V. Fagone, 1 June – 28 September

1983: Milan, Studio Marconi, 3 March – April / Mantua, Galleria Corraini (pastels), 19 November – 18 December

1986: Messina, Palazzo dei Leoni; catalogue text by F. Menna, 19 March – 12 April
Sant’Andrea in Percussina (Florence), Casa del Machiavelli; catalogue text by G. M. Accame, 12 September – 19 October

1987: Genoa, Studio Ghiglione; catalogue text by F. Menna, February – March

1988: Gibellina, Museo Civico (Retrospective 1959–1988); catalogue text by G. Appella, 1 July – 30 September

1989: Frankfurt, Frankfurter Westend Galerie, 4 February – 1 April

1990: Ravenna, Loggetta Lombardesca (with C. Olivieri and P. Ruggeri); catalogue texts by B. Bandini and S. Sinisi, 19 May – 4 September

1993: Bergamo, Galleria Fumagalli; catalogue text by G. M. Accame, 16 October – 25 November

1994: Spoleto, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Palazzo Racani Arroni (Large Formats Retrospective 1968–1993); catalogue texts by the artist and M. Meneguzzo, 1 – 29 May

1995: Rome, Galleria Edieuropa; catalogue text by E. Bilardello, 8 February – 11 March

1997: Ferrara, PAC, Palazzo Massari (Retrospective 1959–1997); catalogue texts by M. Goldin and R. Zuccaro, 23 February – 6 April

1998: Bergamo, Galleria Fumagalli (Small Formats Retrospective 1959–1997); catalogue text by M. Panzera, 18 April – May
Rovigo, Accademia dei Concordi; catalogue text by G. Mori, 29 October – 30 November
Conegliano, Palazzo Sarcinelli (Retrospective 1959–1998); monograph by Electa with texts by M. Goldin, G. M. Accame and F. D’Amico, interview by S. Carrer and critical anthology, 20 December – 31 January 1999
1999: Rome, Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea, Università “La Sapienza”; catalogue text by L. Mango, 3 – 24 June

2000: Treviso, Casa dei Carraresi (Pastel Retrospective 1960–2000); monograph by Linea d’Ombra Libri, with texts by M. Goldin and D. Fonti, and interview by G. Appella, 2 December – 14 January 2001

2001: Donnalucata, Palazzo Mormino (Retrospective 1994–2001); catalogue text by P. Nifosì, 5 August – 2 September Milan, Spazio Annunciata; gallery bulletin with text by G. M. Accame and interview by Emma Gravagnuolo, 17 October – November

2002: Frankfurt, Frankfurter Westend Galerie, 14 September – 23 November

2007: L’Aquila, Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo, Castello Cinquecentesco (Retrospective 1967–2007); catalogue texts by A. Imponente and E. Saldari, 24 November – December

2008: Milan, Fondazione Zappettini, 4 December – 16 January 2009

2010: Legnago, Libreria Ferrarin, La soglia del colore, 4 December – 16 January 2009

2011: Milan, Progettoarte – elm, Moti del colore; catalogue text by A. Mugnaini, 29 September – 12 November Milan, Fondazione Mudima, Festa antologica (Works 1967–2011), 4 October
Rome, Mara Coccia Arte Contemporanea, Figure in uno spazio classico; catalogue text by M. Panzera, 11 November – 21 January 2012

2013: Rome, Galleria Monitor, I colori agili, curated by D. Ferri, 16 May – 20 July Marsala, Convento del Carmine, In parallelo (with C. Olivieri); catalogue text by S. Troisi, 30 June – 27 October

2014: New York, Monitor Gallery (with F. Arena), 22 January – February

2015: Los Angeles, Marc Selwyn Fine Art (Works 1967–2015), 14 November – 9 January

2018: London, Cardi Gallery (Works 1967–2017); catalogue text by P. Tomassoni, 23 January – 30 March
Riva del Garda, MAG, Claudio Verna. Colore come assoluto; catalogue text by D. Ferrari, 7 April – 10 June
Milan, Cardi Gallery, 17 September – 20 December Rome, Galleria Monitor, Discorso sul segno (Large Format Pastels), 21 September – 10 November

2019: Bologna/San Lazzaro, Marco Ghigi + Kappa-nöun, Claudio Verna. Cromoracconto; catalogue text by D. Ferri, 28 September

2020: Rome, Galleria Monitor, Il tempo regala l’atto: due opere per una mostra (with B. Hipp), 12–29 January

2021: Milan, Spazio Antonini, Palazzo Borromeo, curated by Cardi Gallery, 9 November – February 2022

2022: San Gemini, Stazione di Posta, Open; catalogue text by Bianca Pedace, 1 – 23 October

2023: Nova Milanese, Bugatti-Segantini Lifetime Achievement Award; catalogue text by M. Bignardi, 10 June – 1 July Rome, Banca Generali Private, Materia/Emozioni; catalogue text by A. Rigoni, 29 May – December Bologna, LABS Contemporary Art, Beautiful life; catalogue text by D. Ferri, 7 October – 20 December

2024: Foligno, CIAC (Works 1961–2024); catalogue text by I. Tomassoni, 26 October

THE CATALOGUE IS ON SALE AT THE MUSEUM

VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE EXHIBITION