The Church of Santa Maria della Spina is hosting the exhibition “I grembi di Maria” featuring works by Pino Biggi and curated by Paola Marini.
The opening is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12, at 12:00 p.m.
The exhibition, sponsored by the Municipality of Pisa in collaboration with the “Il Gabbiano” association, will be open to the public free of charge through Sunday, June 21, during the following hours:
- Wednesday through Friday, 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.;
- Saturday, Sunday, June 1–2, and June 17: 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. and 4:00–7:00 p.m.;
During the exhibition period, three events are also scheduled, organized by the theater company of the “Il Gabbiano” association, featuring dramatized readings of the stories “Novelle, quasi fiabe” (Short Stories, Almost Fairy Tales) drawn from the unpublished literary works of artist Pino Biggi. The scheduled events, featuring readings by Daniela Bertini, will take place on Sunday, May 17, Saturday, June 6, and Saturday, June 20, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Admission to the exhibition and related events is free.
“Pino Biggi. I grembi di Maria”
Curated by Paola Marini (director of the museums of Bassano del Grappa, Verona, and Venice), the exhibition presents one of the iconographic themes developed by the artist in the 1990s, following three decades of work—a period in which the painterly aura of his forms intensified in multiple directions. In the paintings that depict, as the artist himself indicates, “the lap of Mary,” Pino Biggi portrays only the lower half of the Madonnas seated on thrones, an ancient symbol of the maternal embrace of Christian spirituality. The exhibition is conceived in relation to the spaces of the Church of the Spina, establishing a dialogue between contemporary art and historical-artistic heritage.
The artist. Pino Biggi (Fossola di Carrara, April 7, 1930 – Arena Metato, June 11, 2019) was a painter, poet, writer, and sculptor. A unique figure in the Italian cultural landscape, he maintained an uninterrupted creative output between 1950 and 2015, spending his life in Lucca, Rome, Milan, Verona, and San Giuliano Terme. A painter from a very young age, he also devoted himself to poetry and literature, earning praise from, among others, the writer Umberto Saba. From 1950 onward, he prioritized painting over other art forms. Over the course of his career, which spanned more than sixty years, the artist agreed to participate in a single solo exhibition dedicated to him, organized in 1998 by the Municipality of Pietrasanta at the urging of the critic Tommaso Trini. It was only after his death that it became possible to present part of his impressive body of paintings to the public, beginning with the exhibition at the Fondazione Terre Medicee in Seravezza in 2022, and continuing with the exhibition in Pisa at the Chiesa della Spina scheduled for spring 2026.
For more information: https://www.pinobiggi.org/
