City on Fire

Gerardo Dottori
oil on canvas
1926

Gerardo Dottori was a leading figure of Italian Futurism. From both a theoretical and a practical standpoint, he devoted himself to aeropainting and religious futurist themes. The Dottori and Umbrian Futurists Collection includes many major works from the Perugian painter’s career ranging from his academic beginnings to his final years in the 1970s.

Incendio Città (City on Fire) is regarded as one of Gerardo Dottori’s masterpieces. Oral tradition has it that the painting depicts a fire which broke out in the historical centre of the city of Perugia and which Dottori saw as he was returning from a hunting party in the hills. The flames, with triangular geometrical shapes inspired by Balla, burst from the centre of the painting and are devouring a medieval town that can be recognised as a stylised version of Perugia. The town is symbolised by what appears to be the pointed tower of the San Pietro Cathedral and immediately behind it (in the far background, emerging from billowing clouds of smoke) the truncated bell tower of the Basilica of San Domenico.