Hammer price: € 16.875,00
Auction 89 – 16th of December 2025 – Modern and Contemporary Art
The work Un’anguria americana assassinata sul campo, painted by Mattia Moreni in 1969, belongs to the series Le calbane vecchie and represents one of the most significant testimonies of the artist’s mature phase. Executed in oil on canvas, the painting measures 130 × 130 cm and is signed, dated, and titled on both the front and the reverse. Its provenance from a private collection in Pisa further enhances its historical, critical, and collectible relevance.
From a formal standpoint, the composition is dominated by a green organic mass—referable to the watermelon of the title—placed at the centre of a dense and vibrant pictorial surface. However, the natural subject is transformed into a wounded body, marked by a laceration that introduces an explicit reference to violence. Moreover, the surrounding texture, rendered through filamentous and layered brushstrokes, evokes an almost epidermal materiality, suggesting a constant tension between nature and artificiality.
Mattia Moreni, a central figure in Italian art of the second half of the twentieth century, moved through Informal art, New Figuration, and radical experiments addressing the relationship between humankind and nature. In particular, during the 1960s his research focused on a critical and unsettling vision of progress, often expressed through images of organic destruction. Accordingly, this work is not merely a still life, but a visual metaphor for environmental and cultural degeneration.
Look all the top lots from our Modern and Contemporary art’s auctions!
“Do you own a work by Mattia Moreni? Request a free valuation today!”
Contact us:
