Angelo Dall'Oca Bianca (1858-1942)

The painting expresses the theme of old age, merging elements of the realistic register with elements of the symbolic register. In the courtyard of a hospice, the light of the sunset surrounds three old men, attracted by the march of a female figure, a nun.

Her head, wrapped in a white veil, seems to be surrounded by a bright halo. The composition and the chromatic rendering contribute to the symbolic interpretation of the work, without taking away the inspiration of realism.

Dall'Oca Bianca’s painting of the Symbolist turning point is "The Loves of Souls". Presented at the National Exposition of Turin in 1898 and at the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1900, the painting was donated in 1908 to the city of Verona by the engineer Rodolfo Angheben.

In this work, the subject matter breaks away from the refined and often evidently artificial pleasantness of his typical works, but above all shows an adherence to the Divisionist movement.

"Owls" is one of the many works that the artist dedicated in the course of his painting activity to places inhabited by women: squares, lakeside promenades, walks along the Adige River, places where female figures pass quickly or linger, chatting and admiring the landscape.

Beyond adhering to the themes proper to genre painting, the artist pays homage to the natural feminine predisposition to interpersonal communication, and the aptitude for building, sharing, and enhancing the foundations of the city community in the animated life of the square.

"The Masks (The Politics)" is a painting with a strong allegorical character. The title links the origins of politics to a masquerade, where the complexity of human existence is reduced to the juxtaposition of sincerity and hypocrisy.

The mask merchant exerts an irresistible seduction on the spirits and passions of men, having for every instinct and every greed a costume, a trick, a mask. Almost submerged by the cloths, the figure of Christ, the only authentic character, is glimpsed in the half-light.

Dall'Oca reprises a Dantesque subject that was met with great success in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. In the V canto of Hell the souls of those who in life have been drawn by instinct instead of reason are incessantly overwhelmed by headwinds.

The lovers wander eternally bound, condemned to the counter of lustful for ecstasy and the torment of impossible love. Dall'Oca reworks the symbolist language adopted in the late 19th century and depicts them wrapped in a sensual embrace, suspending them in an obscure atmosphere