San Nicola Arcella

Painted in 2005, Salvo’s luminous composition San Nicola Arcella depicts the town of the same name located in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Bright, evocative colours conjure this warm idyll, a sun-drenched haven situated alongside the tranquil Mediterranean Sea. A travel lover, Salvo dedicated many canvases to the places he visited, and it is likely that he spent time basking in the summer glories of this seaside resort. San Nicola Arcella is known for its dramatic coastal topography and undulating cliffs, which Salvo has captured in the present work. While his initial artistic forays were more conceptual—following a move to Turin, he immersed himself in the nascent Arte Povera movement and shared a studio with Alighiero Boetti—Salvo began to paint landscapes in the late-1970s following an encounter with the metaphysical artist Giorgio de Chirico. Like his predecessor, Salvo, too, created dreamlike panoramas of radiant light, and with its generous dimensions and gentle heat, San Nicola Arcella plunges its viewer into the platonic ideal of summer.