The corpus, which collects one hundred drawings executed by the painter Virgilio Guidi (Rome 1891 – Venice 1984), was donated in 2016 to the Institute of Art History of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini by critic Enzo Di Martino. The drawings, mostly unpublished, constitute significant evidence of the multifaceted and long artistic career of one of the masters of the Italian 20th century. From some early proofs datable to the 1910s to those of his last period of activity, the corpus allows us to reread the great themes of Guidi’s art – from Encounters to Figures in Space, from Marines to Big Trees – revealing the most intimate aspect of his creation. The artist’s beloved subjects are studied and pinned to paper with quick, synthetic and never superficially descriptive strokes. On the same sheets of paper, often retrieved from the verse of a letter or a notebook page, poetic verses or reflections on art are jotted down, living in a meaningful co-presence.

A catalogue of the collection, edited by Luca Massimo Barbero (Virgilio Guidi. I disegni della Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice 2017), was published in 2017.