Study on Grief

When taking into consideration the MOON GALLERY mission, as well as the values and ideals the new space colonization should be founded upon, the Fava Foundation proposes to include in the gallery on the most important paintings painted by Giuseppe Fava, Study on Grief, a 1965 oil painting.

Giuseppe Fava was a journalist, writer, playwright and painter. From his early paintings (early 1950s) he translated into images the same Sicilian beauty and ancient suffering expressed in his writings. 

In the late 60s, Fava’s work becomes an effective means for social exposé. His painting contains references to poverty, abuses, Government’s absence and mafia’s influence. It is powerful storytelling, where nothing is toned down, least of all truth.  

The three subjects of Study on Grief are canvassed in compressed space and evoke the pathos of a modern Crucifixion: the iconography is essential yet just as dramatic in rendering grief. The clasped hand of the female figure in the blue veil resonates with Mary’s desperation in ancient crucifixions, the tormented face on the man in red -almost a modern St. John- and the glassy gaze on the one in the lower part seems to scream the death of a man of our time who dies without saving anyone. It is modern torture without setting: there are no memories of specific circumstances, only the pain of those left behind.

By including this painting in the moon gallery, the Fava Foundation hopes to spread Giuseppe Fava’s investigations on violence and corruption, both as a message of hope and a warning to build a better human society without injustice. 

An image of the painting will be miniaturized and incorporated into a transparent glass cube; 1 cm high.

The intense technological progress of the last 100 years of humankind could have really better quality of life for every one of Earth. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened because of a development model that favored profit for the few rather than wellbeing for all. The message the Fava foundation wants to convey by including the Study on Grief painting is to create a new and really sustainable development model, ridding society of corruption and violence.

An image of social denunciation to create a better society. Less profit, more well-being for everyone.