A mother breastfeeding her two children simultaneously. A kiss to one, an arm moving to embrace the other. A scene of harmony and of deepest love, yet there’s something disquieting. The dark shadows behind them, the unnatural hues of their skin and the feeling that something is lurking. It’s sentiment rather than meaning in these works, where death and birth are at times combined in one image.
The 23 paintings by Romania-born artist Victor Man are on display in Museo Novecento until March 7, 2027, with the titles of some of the pieces offering a good indication of the theme: Maternity (Curve delle Anime) (2025), Rèclining Maiden (Prelude of Equinox) (2025-6), and Maternity with Legend (2025-6). What’s less expected, however, is the treatment of this topic. Green-coloured skin, absent eyes, skulls in the mirror. It may seem fearful, but the stronger sense is one of resistance. As curator Sergio Risaliti articulated at the press conference: “It’s joy that perturbs.”
Phosphorescent details and stars are scattered in a number of works, making the domestic something cosmic. Some figures are androgynous, and all show strength. The brightest room shows the darkest works, as Risaliti said, “a gym for the eyes”. We look through the darkness for where Man “creates light from shade”, the defining characteristic of his work. Here, he plays with masters like Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Domenico Veneziano, turning their gold into black and casting angels into whirls of ominous shadows inspired by fish he saw in a market.
We also see the artist himself. In one, his image appears in the space where the brain should be in the x-ray of a skull, melancholic and with striking eyes staring out at us. The dimly lit rooms with spotlights cast at varying angles toy with light in the way that Man does, adding to the almost otherworldliness, or indeed, underworldliness. The final surprise is his daughter’s drawing in the chapel; that age of innocence, mystery and things we cannot explain.
