33. Mimmo Paladino (Paduli, Italia 1947)
Chorale, 1997
Olio su tela | Oil on canvas
250 x 200 cm
Courtesy collezione Paolo Brodbeck

Mimmo Paladino (Paduli, Italia 1947) has always conceived the artwork as an inclusive formal model—a space through which to observe the present via the lens of foundational values inherited from archaic and universal cultures. His highly recognizable iconography draws deeply from the traditions of his native land, weaving together figurative references to Egyptian, Etruscan, and early Christian art with abstract signs and essential forms that express a poetic language both modern and timeless.
Paladino’s artistic practice is guided by a synthesis of mark, color, and form, in a continual search for compositional balance that echoes, in its coherence and internal harmony, the structure of music. Just as a composer works with tonal relationships, Paladino constructs his works through visual intervals, chromatic counterpoints, rhythms, and silences that revolve around a central core.

33. In Chorale (1997), the large magenta form at the center of the composition asserts itself like a “high note,” a pulsing heart around which fields of color, symbols, and shapes are arranged—forming a kind of visual score. This central element acts as a generative portal, traversed by diverse temporalities, cultures, and spiritualities. It is both a compendium of ancestral wisdom and a utopian projection of harmony and beauty.
The work becomes a meeting place for otherness, where diversity is not exclusion but a foundational value and a driving force. It presents a worldview grounded in inclusivity—capable of holding together differences in a fertile and necessary coexistence.
At a time marked by deep identity and value crises—particularly within Europe—Chorale stands as a call to memory and responsibility: the union of peoples and cultures cannot exist without respect for individual identities. Only through the recognition and protection of specificity can true renewal take root.