In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Antonio Ligabue’s passing, the city of Pisa is preparing to honor the great artist with a significant double event. On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, the Sala Baleari of the Municipality will host a conference presenting the life and work of the master, simultaneously officially announcing the opening of a major celebratory exhibition.
The exhibition, dedicated to Ligabue’s genius, will open its doors at Pisa’s historic Arsenali Repubblicani starting December 26, 2025. The conference will not only serve as a formal announcement but will also offer the public a unique opportunity to delve into the expressive power and profound inner world of an artist with an unmistakable and universal voice. His human and creative trajectory will be traced, highlighting his striking affinity with the leading figures of European Expressionism.
This initiative is promoted by the Fondazione Augusto Agosta Tota per Antonio Ligabue, in collaboration with Beside Arts and ARTIKA. The central figure of the day will be Mario Alessandro Fiori, curator of the exhibition and general secretary of the Foundation, a recognized expert on Ligabue’s work. The event will also feature speeches by the Culture Councillor of the Municipality of Pisa, Filippo Bedini, and Daniel Buso of ARTIKA.
Mario Alessandro Fiori emphasizes the importance of these two Pisan occasions to “narrate and showcase Ligabue’s genius, his strength, his expressive urgency, and his, often underestimated, belonging to one of the pivotal movements of 20th-century European art: Expressionism.” He asserts that Ligabue was “our Expressionist in every sense.” His canvases, with “faces distorted by pain, fierce animals charged with vital tension, wild and visionary natures,” converse with the works of masters such as Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, and Oskar Kokoschka. Fiori concludes by comparing Ligabue to Van Gogh for the “strength of feeling” with which he painted, exploring the pictorial matter to evoke “visceral emotions.” Although isolated and distant from major cultural centers, Ligabue embodied the spirit of Expressionism, transforming his condition of marginalization into a “powerful, sincere, and unmistakably modern voice.”