The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli - Your Art History Reference Guide!

ArtHistoryClub Information Site on The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli Art History Art History Search        Art History Browse             News        Gallery        Forums        Articles        Weblinks        welcome to our free resource site for all art history lovers!

The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli


The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (Funeralli dell’anarchico Galli) (1911) is a painting by Italian futurist Carlo Carrà. It currently resides in New York City's Museum of Modern Art.

The subject of the work is the funeral of Italian anarchist Angelo Galli, killed by police during a general strike in 1904. The Italian State feared that the funeral would become a de facto political demonstration and refused the mourning anarchists entrance into the cemetary itself. The anarchists resisted; the police responded with force and a violent scuffle ensued.

Carlo Carrà was present. His work embodies the tension and chaos of the scene: the movement of the bodies, the clashing of anarchists and police, the black flags flying in the air. He reflects in a later memoir:

I saw before me the bier, covered with red carnations, wavering dangerously on the shoulders of the pallbearers. I saw the horses becoming restive, and clubs and lances clashing, so that it seemed to me that at any moment the corpse would fall to the ground and be trampled by the horses...
Last updated: 10-09-2005 21:08:52
Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License. See original document.
Art History Search | Art History Browse | Contact | Legal info