Ekphrasis- My Morandi

The Italian painter Giorgio Morandi is recounted as a friend and artist in this memoir by Luigi Magnani, an art historian and devoted collector of Morandi’s work.

One of the most beloved and critically acclaimed artists of the twentieth century, Giorgio Morandi painted serial and permutational arrangements of everyday objects that elevated the quotidian into the sublime. In 1940, he struck up a decades-long friendship with entrepreneur, musicologist, art historian, and collector Luigi Magnani.

My Morandi is the first full-length English translation of Magnani’s memoir reflecting on his bond with the artist and his long-standing academic and personal interest in Morandi’s paintings. In My Morandi, Magnani considers the artist’s aloofness from artistic trends and his dedication to painting for a small, discerning audience. He locates Morandi within the art-historical canon as well as recounts their artistic and intellectual kinship, which led to a unique, rich collection of Morandi’s work at Magnani’s villa in Mamiano, now the Magnani Rocca Foundation. Magnani’s personal collection of Morandi’s work was on view at David Zwirner, New York, in 2025. Originally published in 1982 in Italian, this memoir is accompanied by a new preface by Alice Ensabella and includes an introduction by Stefano Roffi, director of the Magnani Rocca Foundation.