A towering iteration of Arte Povera artist Michelangelo Pistoletto Venus of the rags which had recently been installed in Naples’ Piazza del Municipio was destroyed by a fire early in the morning of July 12. Arson is suspected. The sculpture, which depicts the titular Roman goddess of love and fertility cast in plaster and standing before a huge pile of rags, was unveiled publicly just two weeks ago on June 28. One of Pistoletto’s most famous works, it was originally premiered in 1967.; a cement Venus purchased from a garden store starred in this iteration. Several other versions of the sculpture remain on display in museums scattered around the world. Inspired by 1813–16 by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen Venus with applethe installation aims to evoke the dichotomy between eternal beauty, embodied by Venus, and the consumerist decline of modern society, represented by the piled-up rags.
Speaking to reporters in front of the smoldering ruins of the work, Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi acknowledged that city police were investigating the fire as an act of vandalism and announced that the installation would be redone. A crowdfunding campaign to pay for the reconstruction is already underway.
“It is a work that calls for regeneration, on the need to find a balance and harmony between two spirits that are represented on the one hand by beauty, and on the other by consummate consumerism, a disaster”, wrote the ninety-year-old. says the old Pistoletto to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. “The world is on fire anyway. The same spirits that wage war are the ones that set Venus on fire.
“Deep dismay at what happened to the Venus of the rags”, Manfredi tweeted in Italian. “But now it’s time for the city’s response: I’ve already heard from Pistoletto, the work will be redone. Violence and vandalism will not stop art, regeneration and culture in Naples.
