The two musuems, of Palazzo Reale (showcasing Boccioni) and the Museo Del Novecento, offered varying perspectives on the tumultuous time before and during the Futurists. The Boccioni museum gave an indepth account of his life, as a student and then master. Umberto Boccioni, one of the future signers of the Futurist Manifesto, was once a student of Impressionism. In this way, the museum walks viewers through his education, later rejection of this education, and to his new futuristic creations. A piece that struck me was, La madre dell artista (1913). This piece seemed to defy the oft violent nature of the Futurists, and instead depicted a motherly figure (specifically his). Although the lines of the sketch are brash, quick, and bold, the rosiness of her cheeks seem to soften both her face and the entirety of the sketch. It is a moment in which modernity to meets motherhood. One can also note his interest in Picasso’s work intertwined with his own (towards the end of his life) in this sketch..
At the Museao Del Novecento, one can see another female depicted with a Futurist twist in Bambina per Balcone by Giacomo Balla in 1912. The painting is a blur of blocks depicting his daughters motion across the floor. (Interestingly, Balla was a Divisionist teacher of Boccioni’s in 1902 and they later on they both signed the Futurist Manifsto in 1910.) This painting is not the study of a car, or horse, or train’s movement, but that of a little girl. Both pieces showcase a refreshing intervention of femininity into the Futurist movement.
