Dormono (Sleeping) Print

The painting "Nocturne" by Emanuela Volpe from 2011 is a work that combines textual and visual elements to create an effect of great symbolic and conceptual impact. At the center of the work we find a three-dimensional Venetian mask, applied directly to the canvas, which acts as a visual and symbolic fulcrum. The use of the mask immediately recalls concepts related to identity, fiction and mystery, central themes in the Venetian tradition, but also in the universal reflection on the self and perception. A calligram composed of the text of the poem "Dormono" by Alcmane, translated by Salvatore Quasimodo, develops around the mask. The words, written in white on a black background, seem to envelop the mask in a vortex of thoughts and meanings, as if the poem itself were a stream of consciousness that animates or surrounds the mask. The character of the letters is fluid and dynamic, with strokes that vary in intensity and size, helping to create a sense of movement and vitality, as if the words were coming to life or resonating in the air. From a compositional point of view, the work plays on a strong contrast between black and white, giving drama and depth. The mask itself, without visible eyes, evokes a sense of emptiness or absence, almost as if it were a symbol of humanity sleeping, in accordance with the theme of the poetic text. Alcman's poetry, a hymn to sleep and nocturnal tranquility, is here visually reworked through the contrast between the inertia of sleep and the liveliness of the written words. This creates a dialogue between the static nature of the mask and the dynamism of the text, suggesting a tension between immobility and movement, silence and word. Lyrics: Dormono le cime de’ monti e le vallate intorno, i declivi e i burroni; dormono i rettili, quanti nella specie la nera terra alleva, le fiere di selva, le varie forme di api, i mostri nel fondo cupo del mare; dormono le generazioni degli uccelli dalle lunghe ali.