Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, 1951. Oil on canvas 85.1 x 66 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Collection, bequest of Hannelore B. Schulhof, 2012, 2012.56 © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.

Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1955. Oil on canvas, grey, green, black, yellow, and pink, 70 x 60 cm. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Gift, Fondazione Araldi Guinetti, 2011, 2011.45 © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.

Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1957. Oil on canvas, 115.6 x 88.9 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Collection, bequest of Hannelore B. Schulhof, 2012, 2012.55 © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.

Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1959. Synthetic paint on canvas, olive green, 130.5 x 250.5 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Gift, Mrs. Teresita Fontana, Milan, 1977, 77.2322.© 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.

In a series of manifestos originating with the Manifiesto Blanco (White Manifesto, 1946), Lucio Fontana announced his goals for a “spatialist” art. This new mode would look to science and technology to achieve an expression of the fourth dimension. Fontana believed in erasing traditional boundaries between architecture, painting, and sculpture, favoring a new aesthetic he termed Concetto spaziale (1947–68). The paintings in his Tagli (cuts) series (1958–68) are marked by the tension between rich, evenly colored surfaces and violent ruptures incised by a blade. In Attese (waiting), slashes swoop in a visual rhythm that calls attention to the deep cut to the right and the dark void it reveals. In the course of the 1960s, Fontana would show similar work and other related series in ZERO exhibitions and publications.

Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1965. Water-based paint on canvas, white, 130 x 97 cm. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Gift, Fondazione Lucio Fontana, 1988, 88.3590.© 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.