File: G. Penone

Giuseppe Penone:
a new and significant figure in the collection

A majestic sculpture in the entrance hall welcomes visitors to the museum, while other important works by the artist now figure in the MCBA collection.

The Italian artist, who is part of the Arte povera movement, has only recently joined the group of key figures making up the Canton of Vaud’s cultural heritage. Through the generosity of the gallery owner Alice Pauli, MCBA boasts an important selection of Penone’s work, the Giuseppe Penone Collection. A drawing and a wall relief are on display in the permanent collection, while Luce e ombra, the sculpture that has taken root in the museum’s central hall, is already an iconic piece of art in the eyes of the public.

"Luce e ombra"
A tree made of bronze, granite and gold has taken root in MCBA, soaring to a height of 14.5 m.

From the museum’s central hall, the Italian artist marks the spirit of the place and instantly makes clear the venue’s connection with the art world. The piece is built upon the most basic conditions of what is visible, that is, light and shade.

Luce e ombra is a bequest to MCBA, and hence a gift to all visitors to the museum, by the late gallery owner Alice Pauli. Dating from 2011, the sculpture was the first work of art to be installed in the new MCBA and took shape thanks to the casting the artist made of an actual tree. The gilded foliage of the lower ‘globe’ was done in 24-carat gold leaf. The tree weighs 3,500 kg and is made up of 13 elements, 11 branches, the trunk, which measures over 10 m and weighs nearly 2,000 kg, and finally the 800 kg-granite ball.
As Penone stated, ‘The tree reaches for the sky and the foliage broadens into an ample sphere to gather as much light as it can. This is why the leaves are gilded. Bronze, on the other hand, is an element subject to the force of gravity that pulls us down towards the depths of the earth, to darkness.’ Penone (born 1947 in Garessio; lives and works in Turin) is associated with the Arte povera movement, which advocates a return to the essential in art by undertaking a reflection on the relationship between nature and culture.

  • Giuseppe Penone, “Luce e ombra”, 2011. Bronze, gold and granite, 1450 x 470 x 490 cm.
    Alice Pauli Donation, 2016. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne.
    Photo: MCBA, Etienne Malapert

3 annotated artworks

"Luce e ombra": installation

exhibition view

Publications

Giuseppe Penone. Regards croisés

Catalogue in French, edited by Bernard Fibicher, with contributions by Giuseppe Penone, Didier Semin, Bernard Fibicher and Ruggero Penone. Published by 5 Continents, Milan and the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, 2015, fr., 160 p., 134 ill.

CHF 76,50

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Guide to the Collection

A presentation of more than two hundred artworks gives a glimpse of the museum’s holdings.

Texts by Bernard Fibicher, Catherine Lepdor, Camille Lévêque‑Claudet, Laurence Schmidlin, Nicole Schweizer and Camille de Alencastro.

A coedition by the Musée cantonal des Beaux‑Arts de Lausanne and Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2020.

(separate French and English editions). 248 pp., 226 colour illustrations.

CHF 25.-

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