The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli
The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (Il Funerale dell’anarchico Galli) is a painting by Italian painter Carlo Carrà. It was finished in 1911, during the artist's futurist phase. It currently resides in New York City's Museum of Modern Art.
| The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli | |
|---|---|
| Italian: Il Funerale dell’anarchico Galli | |
 | |
| Artist | Carlo Carrà |
| Year | 1910–1911 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 198.7 cm. × 259.1 cm. (78¼ in. × 102 in.) |
| Location | Museum of Modern Art, New York City |
The subject of the work is the funeral of Italian anarchist Angelo Galli, killed by police during a general strike in 1904.[1] The Italian State feared that the funeral would become a de facto political demonstration and refused the mourning anarchists entrance into the cemetery itself. When anarchists resisted, the police responded with force and a violent scuffle ensued.
Carlo Carrà was present. His work embodies the tension and chaos of the scene: the movement of the bodies, the clashing of anarchists and police, the black flags flying in the air. He reflects in a later memoir:
I saw before me the bier, covered with red carnations, wavering dangerously on the shoulders of the pallbearers. I saw the horses becoming restive, and clubs and lances clashing, so that it seemed to me that at any moment the corpse would fall to the ground and be trampled by the horses…[2]
The Hungarian poet, Lajos Kassák wrotea dramatic prose account of the picture, "Carlo D. Carra anarkhistatemetés című képe alá" in A Tett, No.2 November 1915.[3]
References
- Heard Hamilton, George. (1993) Painting and Sculpture in Europe 1880-1940. 6th edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 282. ISBN 0300056494
- Carrà, Carlo (1943). La Mia Vita
- Lajos, Kassák. "(Carlo D. Carra anarkhistatemetés című képe alá)". DigiPhil (in Hungarian). Kassák Lajos. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
External links
- The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli in the MoMA Online Collection