Portrait of the Poet Salvatore Quasimodo

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Salvatore Quasimodo was born in Modica in Sicily in 1901 and died in Naples in 1968. In 1959 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

This portrait was painted in April 1942. It is signed and dated Birolli 42 at the right edge; it is one of the painter’s best works and reveals the Post-Impressionist and Expressionist sources of his style. Birolli first portrayed the poet in November 1941. Both paintings are mentioned in his diary.

Artist Renato Birolli

Year of creation 1942

Technique oil, canvas

Dimensions 160 x 60 cm

Inventory number NG S 1992, National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana

Collection Od 1918 dalje

Provenance: Presented to the Narodna galerija in 1942 by the Italian occupation authority of the province; confirmation of the inventorisation of the painting dated 16 April 1943, old Inv. No. 1880; 1952–1983 on loan to the Moderna galerija, Ljubljana.
Exhibitions: 1942, Venice, No. 22; 1960, Venice, No. 12; 1983, Ljubljana, No. 102; 1985, Belgrade, No. 57; 1987, Belgrade-Zagreb-Ljubljana-Sarajevo, no number; 1989, Milan, No. 42, 1989/90, Rome, 1990, Verona.
Lit.: Stampa sera 1942 (with Fig.); Peyrot 1942; Apollonio 1942; Francini 1942; Gafajs 1942; Pozza 1942; Torriano 1942; Zanzi 1942; Gorgerino 1942; Maltese 1950, p. 46; Apollonio 1956, p. 154; Birolli 1960, pp. 104, 136, 138, 168 (introduction A. Moravia); Zeri [& Rozman] 1983, p. 84, Cat. and Fig. No. 102; Erbesato 1986, pp. 60, 62; World Masters 1987, p. 88, Fig. on p. 89 (text Jure Mikuž); Birolli 1989, pp. 31, 147, Fig. on p. 42.