Yesterday in Bagheria at Villa Cattolica, they celebrated the re-opening of the Museo Guttuso which had been closed for renovation for a year and a half. On what would have been the 105th birthday of artist Renato Guttuso (1911-1987), a group of dignitaries including Bagheria Mayor Patrizio Cinque, Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando, and film maker Giuseppe Tornatore (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, Baarìa) cut the ribbon on the updated galleries that include 1500 drawings, sketches, and paintings of one Italy’s most renowned artists and Bagheria’s most famous sons. Over his long life, Guttuso (self portrait, pictured) captured real life and all of its humanity. On a personal note, his work, which I find at once to be both beautiful and disturbing, inspires me.
