Museum of the 19th Century - Focus

The air you see in the paintings is breathable (Jockey blessé, d’après, Edgar Degas,1896 / 1898)

As already stated, for Matteo Fato the ‘d’après’ is a way to connect with the masters of the past. It is a fundamental practice in his painting.This d’après of Degas’s Jockey Blessé, painted in 1896, unfolds in three parts.
The canvas next to the painted reinterpretation may appear abstract but it is actually the rag the artist used to clean his brushes during the painting process. Far from any intention of abstraction, it restores the dimension of time and dream, which merge in the pictorial process. Here, as in other works, Matteo Fato speaks to us about painting through what is not painted.
The third element is a print, where new figures emerge that were not present in the original:
a memory of The Vision of a Knight by Raphael on the right; the two angels in heaven are a reference to Giotto; the tiger in the background was drawn from Degas’s own etchings; and a palm leaf—a symbol of martyrdom— was borrowed from a painting by Gino Bonichi, also known as Scipione.Degas’s original is thus reimagined in a new composition that underscores the continuity of the entire history of art to the present day.

Simone Ciglia: The title of this work it's actually a quote from Degas, right?

Matteo Fato: Yeah, it’s a quote that really struck me. He once said, “The air you see in paintings is breathable.” And I think that’s a really important idea when you’re trying to understand what painting is about. What he’s really saying is that what we see in a painting isn’t fake—it’s real, it exists!
I mean, to truly paint, you have to believe that you’re painting something that exists. Of course, the landscape I’m looking at exists, but when I paint it, it exists in another reality. Do you remember what Gianni Garrera used to say? “Angels can only see the world through the images painted by humans.” In a way, we do the same thing. The only way we can know the past is through painted images. So in the end, it’s true—the air you see in paintings is breathable, because it’s the only way we have to breathe that time.