Two horses

The iconography is very simple and essential, played on the centrality in the work of the two horses which, due to their pose, oppose each other, facing different directions. Behind them a long fence that frames and separates the enclosure in which they are closed and a partially outlined wooden house. Above them is a vast sky in which two large black birds are flying. While the use of the dark line is total in the definition of the fence and the house, the horses have been skilfully constructed only with color and black is used carefully and sparingly only when and where it is necessary, while their figure is completely resolved with fast and confident expressionist brushstrokes, which recall the great nineteenth and twentieth century tradition in painting these noble animals, which contrasts with the drawing lines of certain details, such as the harness. The luxuriant whiteness of the hair, the tousled and wavy mane, the nervous muscular construction of the horse in the foreground suggest a decisive movement, accentuated by the outline of the muzzle which Ligabue repeats with a brushstroke mixed with sky and landscape, which replicates its trend , thus giving the image an evident dynamism, a movement that we perceive evident. The second horse has a more quiet and curious look and contrasts with his companion ready to kick, representing another way of remaining in the enclosure, whose groundwork further enhances the pair of animals.