The Sky and Surroundings

Paolini often references art history as a source of inspiration. In this work, Giulio Paolini excerpts details from specific works throughout western European art history that include depictions of the sky. Il cielo e dintorni consists of eighteen white flags onto which Paolini printed representations of the sky, selected from works by artists Albrecht Altdorfer, Giacomo Balla, Bronzino, Perugino, Pablo Picasso, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Rousseau le Douanier, Sassetta, J.M.W. Turner and Domenico Veneziano.
By printing these images of the sky onto lightweight flags that wave in the wind, Paolini compares the reality of an endless sky with detail images of it framed on the flags. The juxtaposition of the representations of the sky on the flags with the real sky above sets up a comparison of reality with artistic interpretations of it.