EXHIBITION - GIAN BERTO VANNI

THE EARLY YEARS - 1952–1960

In Giuochi d’acqua [Water Games], Gian Berto Vanni deepens his investigation into prismatic space, building on the crystalline structures of Inverno and the compositional equilibrium of Giardino barocco. Here, that balance gives way to dynamic expansion and contraction. The geometry ripples outward across the canvas like a topographic force field, culminating in a vortex of black-and-white patterning that seems to rupture the visual rhythm.

The underlying grid, inherited from Vanni’s Dutch period, is no longer a stabilizing frame but a charged matrix, energized by shifting diagonals and directional pulls that suggest the pressure and velocity of water.

The chromatic structure is tightly calibrated. Icy blues, celadon greens, and sea-glass tones gather at the center, while deeper violets and inky blacks ground the outer edges. Sudden tonal contrasts, especially the checkerboard accents, introduce a sense of visual instability that recalls the perceptual intensity of Op Art. Yet Vanni is not concerned with illusion.

Color, shaped by his studies with Josef Albers, functions as structural force. It modulates form from within, guiding the viewer’s eye through a system that is at once architectural and fluid. In Giuochi d’acqua, abstraction becomes a stage for internal energies, where the tension between stillness and propulsion breaks fully into view, revealing a painter deeply attuned to the friction between order and release.