“Reality has become liquid with no point where to land …”
The Naufragi Cycle
Naufragi (Shipwrecks) is a painting cycle by Barbara Pietrasanta developed between 2014 and 2022, consisting of large-format oil on canvas works. The cycle originates from a reflection on the contemporary condition: reality as a liquid space with no safe harbour, where the female figure emerges, resists or succumbs. The subjects draw on classical Mediterranean myth (Anadyomene, Scylla and Charybdis, Glaucus, Calypso) and on present-day events (Sea Watch, migrants, real shipwrecks), building a dialogue between archetypal memory and political urgency. The painting is direct, figurative, without calligraphic indulgence: bodies balanced between surface and depth, between identity and dissolution. Naufragi has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Italy and is part of the artistic journey leading to Risvegli (Awakenings, 2025-2026).
“Anadiomede” 2020 oil on canvas cm. 200 x 160“Like after the shipwreck” 2019 oil on canvas cm. 200 x 160“The ship of Delos” 2019 oil on canvas cm. 200 x 160” Scilla and Cariddi” 2020 oil on canvas cm. 200 x 160“Personal effects” 2021 oil on canvas cm. 120 x 120 “If there was the sea” 2020 oil on canvas cm. 100 x 120“Find” 2020 oil on canvas cm. 100 x 100“Rescue” 2020 oil on canvas cm. 70 x 90“Deposition” 2014 oil on canvas cm. 70×50“As on the shipwrecked head 2019 oil on canvas cm. 200 x 160“In the deep blue” 2020 oil on canvas 100 x 100” Extra modum” 2019 oil on canvas 120 x 165“Sea Watch” 2020 oil on canvas 70×100“Sea Watch B” 2020 oil on canvas 80×100“The last shipwreck” 2020 oil on canvas 50 x 100“Glauco” 2021 oil on canvas cm 80 x 100
“Calipso” 2022 oil on canvas 60×60 “Oblivion” 2022 oil on canvas 30×50
“Shores and drifts” 2021 oil on canvas cm. 50 x 80
