PAINTINGS FOR OCEAN LINERS

1951 · 1952

During the 1950s in Europe on the wake of the after war recovery, Ocean Liners became quite popular. They were huge transatlantic ships allowing people to reach the American Continent for less money than was necessary by plane, which at that timed was too expensive and exclusive. As well as other countries Italy, a land of strong emigration, started a number of projects for the reconstruction of its civil fleet. In 1951 Fiume was commissioned by the distinguished Italian architect Gio Ponti a painting for the Giulio Cesare ocean liner, 15.30 x 2.80 meters large, entitled Mythical Italy. This composition, inspired from works of Italian artists like Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, and Piero della Francesca represented an idealized Renaissance Italian city, with walls embracing towers, palaces and monuments. In the same year Gio Ponti also asked Fiume to carry out a huge painting 48m x 3m large for the first class lounge of the Andrea Doria ocean liner. The function of the painting, entitled The Legends of Italy, was to offer the travellers on their way to Italy a pre-view of the masterpieces they would admire in the most beautiful Italian towns. Fiume created a number of spaces (squares, streets, loggias) in which he introduced reproductions of masterpieces by the most important Renaissance artists like Giorgione, Verrocchio, Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, and of sculptures from various historical periods to be found in our country. The visual impact of the lounge was such that some said that the ship had been built around that painting. Unfortunately, the Andrea Doria sank off the coast of Nantucket in 1956 after being rammed by the Swedish ship Stockholm.