3052 - GIOVANNI GIACOMETTI

GIOVANNI GIACOMETTI (Stampa 1868–1933 Glion) Il Mulino. 1916. Oil on canvas. Dated and monogrammed lower left: 1916. G.G. 60 × 50 cm. Provenance: - Collection of S. Treichler, Wädenswil, acquired directly from the artist. - By inheritance to the present owners. Literature: Paul Müller and Viola Radlach: Giovanni Giacometti. Werkkatalog der Gemälde, Zurich 1997, vol. II, p. 584, no. 1917.29. The Paul Cézanne retrospective held in Paris in 1907 had a lasting influence on Giovanni Giacometti's subsequent development. In his landscapes, Cézanne had succeeded in bringing nature and architecture together in compositions defined by broad, interlocking planes. This new approach to landscape painting also strongly influenced the Fauves. Giacometti's close engagement with Cézanne is evident in his various versions of 'The Card Players', a subject he adopted from the French painter. In the present painting, 'Il Mulino', Giovanni Giacometti achieves a masterly synthesis of these elements. The viewer's eye is led into the composition by the red rocks in the foreground and along the river towards the mill. The similar colours of the rocks, treetops and mill roofs bind the different elements into a unified, planar composition. The intensity is heightened by the complementary reds and greens that dominate the painting's palette.