SAME Museum - "Life in the Fields", painting

The painting "Life in the Fields" depicts the Cassani tractor and one of the first SAME tractors in a rural setting at the dawn of agricultural mechanisation. The work is by the artist Trento Longaretti, born in Treviglio, Bergamo, in 1916. Longaretti attended high school and the Accademia di Brera in Milan, from which he graduated in 1939. These were the years in which he was part of the “Corrente” movement where he came into contact with Ernesto Treccani, Renato Birolli, Aligi Sassu and Emilio Vedova. In the following years, Longaretti saw the war with his own eyes in Slovenia, Sicily and Albania, and used his artistic ability to portray the horrifying events of the conflict. This experience left a deep impression on him, and he dedicated his life and work to rejecting violence. In 1953 he was appointed Director and Professor of Painting at the Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti in Bergamo. After moving to Bergamo, where he would remain for the rest of his life, he maintained relations with the Milanese group of artists and collaborated with Pope Paul VI in setting up the Collection of Contemporary Religious Art in the Vatican Museums. Several of his works can be found in various settings in Vatican City. From 1978, he devoted himself exclusively to artistic production. After a long career, Trento Longaretti died in Bergamo on 7 June 2017. (source: Associazione Trento Longaretti di Bergamo)