Europe's artists at the Giardini's central pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale

Italy

Victor Fotso Nyie (1990)

Victor Fotso Nyie, Malinconia, Venice Art Biennale

Victor Fotso Nyie, Malinconia Victor Fotso Nyie was born in Cameroon, but lives in Faenza, Italy.

His sculptures, with their African lines, are made of clay coated with gold after the third firing.

Three of his sculptures were shown at the Venice Biennale.

“Malinconia” is a tribute to one of her sisters who is standing in front of a mirror.

Her introspective gaze shows her solitude and melancholy and reveals the precarious balance between her delicate beauty and the fragility of life.

Her work “Veglia” is a tribute to her late mother, depicting her asleep, lying on her side with her hair slicked back and a faint smile on her lips.

Finally, “Gioia” is a portrait of another of Victor Fotso Nyie's sisters, whose joyful expression shows the enthusiasm and optimism of youth.

Victor Fotso Nyie, Malinconia

Victor Fotso Nyie, Veglia

Victor Fotso Nyie, Gioia

Bertina Lopes (1924-2012)

Bertina Lopes' work incorporates both European constructivist elements and those of her African origin.

She was in fact born in Mozambique, but later lived in Italy.

Bertina Lopes, Griddo Grand

Bertina Lopes, Totem

Filippo de Pisis (1896-1956)

Filippo de Pisis, La Bottiglia Tragica, Venice Art Biennale

Filippo de Pisis, La Bottiglia Tragica Filippo de Pisis's painting “La Bottiglia Tragica” is an allusion to an event in the painter's life.

De Pisis, a homosexual, regularly entertained men in his home.

One day, two young men he had invited attacked him and tried to rob him.

After fighting with him, they ran away.

Once they had left, de Pisis, looking at his table with a colourful tablecloth containing several objects, including his painter's palette and a bottle, decided to make it a symbolic picture of a quiet life in contrast to what had just happened.

Spain - Colombia

Alejandro Obregon (1920-1991)

Alejandro Obregon was born in Barcelona to a Colombian father and spent his childhood in Europe and the United States.

In his painting “Mascaras”, a masked woman holds a tray with food on it and a conquistador's helmet attached to a gas mask.

This alludes to the colonisation of the Americas and the Second World War and the events that followed.

Alejandro Obregon, Mascaras, Venice Art Biennale