3451 - SALVO (SALVATORE MANGIONE)

SALVO (SALVATORE MANGIONE) (Leonforte 1947–2015 Turin) Sant’Anna. 2009/10. Oil on newspaper mounted on canvas. Signed and dated lower left: Salvo 10. Signed, titled, and inscribed with a directional arrow on the reverse: Salvo “SANT’ANNA.” 57.5 × 79.5 cm. Certificate: Archivio Salvo, Turin (no. S2009-103). Provenance: Private collection, Spain. Salvatore Mangione, known as Salvo, was born in Leonforte, Sicily, in 1947 and moved to Turin with his family in 1956. He began painting in the 1960s, and a visit to Paris in 1968 strengthened his resolve to become an artist. In Turin, he met leading figures of Arte Povera, including Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Giuseppe Penone. His early work focused on conceptual art, objects, and installations. He participated in documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972, before returning increasingly to traditional painting from 1973 onward. Salvo’s paintings bring together cultural and historical references, geographical subjects, and Mediterranean landscapes. Gentle hills, pines, cypresses, umbrella pines, and narrow strips of sea recur throughout his work, lending the scenes an air of tranquility and timelessness. He also explored urban and architectural settings from different cultures. Travel impressions, ancient myths, and archaeological remains find their way into poetic, highly distilled compositions. The consistent absence of human figures transforms these places into timeless stages where history and memory converge. In “Sant’Anna” (2010), Salvo presents a vividly colored, idealized landscape whose luminous palette and simplified forms lend it an almost dreamlike quality. Small houses topped with bright red roofs occupy the center of the composition, nestled among gently rolling hills, neatly laid-out fields, and lush trees. The rounded treetops and rhythmic rows of vines suggest depth within the scene. Characteristic of his later work, Salvo combines a recognizable landscape with a sense of otherworldliness. “Sant’Anna” becomes a place of memory and contemplation, where the experience of the Mediterranean landscape and the artist’s imagination merge into a distinctive pictorial language. * The full tax is charged on this item marked *; that is, VAT will be charged on the total amount but refunded to purchasers upon presentation of a validly stamped export declaration.