On display in this section are some of the most famous paintings by Monza painters of the late 19th century.
Naturalism and Verism blend in the works of Eugenio Spreafico and Emilio Borsa, creating visually evocative scenarios.
A recurring theme in the subjects of the period is labour, portrayed at a time of great economic and social transformations that gave rise to the mutation of the agricultural and urban landscape that characterised the entire course of the 20th century, when the world associated with the peasant civilisation faded away, making way for the new that was advancing, personified in the figures of the young workers, rich only in the promise of a better future.
A melancholy veil pervades real figures and places, dear to the painters and drawn directly from their daily experience. The same feeling of melancholy characterises Carlo Fossati’s large canvas, which however eludes reality (a childhood scene), transfiguring it into the enchantment of a fairytale landscape.
Pompeo Mariani is present with two canvases dedicated to a journey to Egypt, evidence of his being in line with the most modern trends – in this case Orientalism – that characterised the period.
01: Eugenio Spreafico, The Goose Girl. Oil on canvas, 1898-1900
02: Giuseppe Molteni, The Nun of Monza. Oil on canvas, 1847
03: Eugenio Spreafico, From work. Returnomg from the Spinning Mill. Oil on canvas, 1890-1895
04: Emilio Borsa, Mills in Monza (country life). Oil on canvas, 1888
05: Pompeo Mariani, View of Cairo. Oil on canvas, 1881