Zandomeneghi and Degas. At the origins of modern painting

A major exhibition at Palazzo Roverella puts Federico Zandomeneghi and Edgar Degas, protagonists of 19th-century European art, in dialogue.

From Italian training to Impressionist Paris, their works recount the transition from academic tradition to contemporary life. Interiors, cafes and theaters become the scene of affinities and exchanges, in a journey of masterpieces that marks a decisive stage in pictorial modernity.

Two paths, one decisive encounter
The story of Federico Zandomeneghi and Edgar Degas arose from similar educational experiences and found fulfillment in a human and artistic encounter destined to profoundly mark the path of both. While Florence represents a decisive passage for both of them – Degas studied the Renaissance tradition there and frequented the milieu of the Caffè Michelangiolo, while Zandomeneghi grew up next to the Macchiaioli, learning a painting based on direct observation and natural light – it is in Paris that their paths truly cross.
Here an intense friendship and an ongoing confrontation takes shape: Degas becomes for the Venetian artist a point of reference and a mentor, while Zandomeneghi reworks Impressionist stimuli according to a personal sensibility, nourished by Italian chromatic memory.

The exhibition reconstructs this exchange made up of affinities, cross-references and mutual influences, highlighting how two different paths converged in a common focus on contemporary life and contributed, together, to renewing the language of European painting.