Michelangelo Pistoletto
Michelangelo Pistoletto, born 1933 in Biella, Italy, lives and works in Turin. Pistoletto is one of the leading figures of Italian Arte Povera and a pioneer of conceptual and participatory art. His work often explores the relationship between art and life, viewer and image, illusion and reality. Pistoletto gained early recognition in the 1960s with his Mirror Paintings – highly polished steel panels that reflect the viewer and surrounding space, merging art with the present moment. Throughout his career, he has consistently sought to break down boundaries between disciplines, founding the interdisciplinary Cittadellarte in the 1990s as a laboratory for social transformation through art. His practice remains rooted in a belief in art’s potential to shape society and provoke dialogue across time, space, and culture.
Michelangelo Pistoletto Editions
Affresco - 5
1998
From Wall Works
Five mirror fragments mounted on a wall painted in yellow, green, orange, blue, red or gray. Mirror fragments irregularly shaped and sized; mirror is 150 x 150 cm (59 x 59 in) before fragmentation; installation size according to the wall. Limited to 12 installations, with a signed and numbered certificate.
Michelango Pistoletto on his wall work edition: "A single mirror divided into several parts replicates itself and expands in space in a process similar to cell division. This wall works makes a parallel between the virtuality of the mirror and the reality of biology."
Gemelle (Mirror Triptych)
1998
From Sequences
Three acrylic glass mirrors, printed with silkscreen. Each print 50 x 40 cm (19¾ x 15¾ in), signed and numbered on verso. Edition of 60 + X.
This edition by Michelangelo Pistoletto is a profound meditation on identity, perception, and presence. The work consists of three silkscreen-printed acrylic glass mirrors arranged in a triptych. On the left and right panels, we see two nearly identical portraits – photographic images of Pistoletto’s twin daughters – each shown in profile, facing inward. The central panel is blank except for a single small dot, precisely positioned at the convergence of the twins’ gazes. This dot becomes both a point of visual convergence and the anchor for the viewer's own reflection. Standing before the triptych, the viewer is drawn to this mark, involuntarily positioning themselves in the space between the twins – completing the composition as the third portrait. In this way, Pistoletto dissolves the boundary between artwork and audience, transforming the act of looking into a mirrored exchange. As in his iconic Mirror Paintings, Pistoletto uses reflection not only as a formal device but as a philosophical proposition: to see oneself is to be seen; to encounter an image is to inhabit a space of relational meaning. Gemelle (Italian for "twin sisters") quietly invites us to contemplate individuality, symmetry, and the self as defined through the presence of others.
This work is part of the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Set EUR 7,500
Oggetti in meno – Souvenir
1997
Published for Documenta X
7 daguerreotypes on ceramic plates, sizes from 8 x 10 x 0.5 to 11 x 15 x 0.5 cm (3 x 4 to 4½ x 6 in). Edition of 55, each signed and numbered on verso.
Michelangelo Pistoletto’s edition Oggetti in meno – Souvenir revisits seven works from his groundbreaking 1965–66 series Oggetti in meno (“Minus Objects”) by transferring photographs of the original pieces onto ceramic plates using the traditional daguerreotype process. Each image, rendered in delicate glaze, becomes both a visual record and a sculptural object, echoing Pistoletto’s conceptual inquiry into the nature of memory and representation. The original Oggetti in meno marked a pivotal moment in the artist’s career, challenging the idea of the artwork as a fixed form and instead emphasizing the viewer’s role and the relational nature of art. With references to everyday objects and domestic spaces – beds, mirrors, furniture – Pistoletto blurred the boundaries between art and life. By turning these works into collectible “souvenirs,” he both commemorates and transforms them, inviting reflection on how art is remembered, preserved, and re-encountered.
EUR 2,000
