3. Francesco De Grandi (Palermo Italia 1968)
Trisma, 2016
Olio su lino | Oil on linen
60 x 45 cm
Courtesy: collezione privata

4. Francesco De Grandi (Palermo Italia 1968)
Ecce Homo, 2016
Olio su lino | Oil on linen
45 x 35 cm
Courtesy: collezione privata

5. Francesco De Grandi (Palermo Italia 1968)
Cristo Deriso, 2016
Olio su lino | Oil on linen
18 x 13 cm
Courtesy: collezione privata

19. Francesco De Grandi (Palermo Italia 1968)
Il Sogno di Placido, 2024
Olio su lino | Oil on linen
170 x 250 cm
Courtesy: l’artista, RizzutoGallery Palermo

Francesco De Grandi (Palermo Italia 1968) draws on archetypal themes from the history of painting as a pathway to spiritual elevation and intellectual inquiry, reflecting on the capacity of painting to evoke both the sublime and the real, tradition and contemporary concerns. His work transcends representation, becoming an inquiry into the human condition and the mysteries of existence.
Through universal themes such as nature, spirituality, mythology, and human fragility, De Grandi breathes new life into timeless symbols, placing them within a contemporary framework. His practice reflects a profound awareness of painting as both a timeless discipline and a living, evolving medium.
While deeply rooted in the study of nature and the sacred, his work is equally shaped by the tremors of contemporary life—a consciousness of modern complexities and contradictions that lends his art critical relevance today. For De Grandi, the sacred is not an object of veneration, but a field of tension, a site of conflict. His Christ-like figures, saints, executioners, and the damned often appear disoriented, deformed, or martyred—tormented icons of human fragility and the loss of the divine.
Though apocalyptic in tone, his visions are not prophecies—they are epiphanies of collapse, revelations of a world that has lost its center, where the sacred becomes scorched flesh, a stage for cruelty.

In the painting cycle composed of Christus Derided, Ecce Homo, and Trisma (all from 2016), Francesco De Grandi presents a personal and unsparing reinterpretation of Christ’s Passion. These works distill the archetypal figure of the scapegoat: the innocent placed at the center of blind, ritualized violence.

3. Christus Derided (13 × 18 cm)
This small-format work is intimate and claustrophobic. At its center, a silent, closed-eyed Christ endures the crowning with thorns, administered by two grotesque, animal-like figures. Their monstrous faces contrast with Christ’s—wounded yet still whole—who emits a tragic, inward light.

4. Ecce Homo (45 × 35 cm)
The visual field widens: the scourged Christ is presented to the crowd, his back turned to the viewer, hands bound, his posture conveying utter vulnerability. Before him, a grotesque and caricatured mass of humanity surges forward with theatrical gestures, jeers, and howls—a tableau of collective cruelty and the spectacle of suffering.

5. Trisma (60 × 45 cm)
Here, martyrdom reaches its climax. The scene is infernal: multiple crucifixions stand against a burning landscape, filled with contorted bodies, flames, and voiceless screams. At the center, Christ is no longer a singular figure of Christian sacrifice, but a symbol of universal human pain.

19. Il Sogno di Placido (2023)
Il Sogno di Placido (The Dream of Placido, 2023) is distinguished by a suspended atmosphere that is both dreamlike and sacred, dominated by a lapis-lazuli blue sky studded with stars. In this nocturnal landscape, radiating inner light, two deer—sacred creatures in many traditions—occupy the center of the scene as emblems of revelation and faith.
The absence of human presence invites viewers to identify with Placido himself, entering into his mystical vision. The painting draws on the legend of Saint Eustace, also known as Placido, a Roman general who converted to Christianity after witnessing a divine sign between the antlers of a stag.
De Grandi reinterprets this narrative with contemporary sensitivity, using saturated, luminous colors to evoke a sense of transcendence and mystery. Emerald and gold foliage, ruby-red flowers, and a radiant, layered palette form a landscape that is at once earthly and otherworldly.
Here, painting becomes a vehicle for spiritual and universal exploration. Symbolism is central to De Grandi’s visual language: traditional motifs are interwoven with a modern sensibility, producing images rich in meaning and capable of evoking deep contemplation.