Wisława Szymborska | The poet and the world

Described by the Nobel committee as the "Mozart of poetry" but with "something of the fury of Beethoven", Wisława Szymborska (1923-2012) was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality".

Wisława Szymborska | Nobel Lecture

December 7, 1996

(✔it) They say the first sentence in any speech is always the hardest. Well, that one's behind me, anyway. But I have a feeling that the sentences to come - the third, the sixth, the tenth, and so on, up to the final line - will be just as hard, since I'm supposed to talk about poetry.

I've said very little on the subject, next to nothing, in fact. And whenever I have said anything, I've always had the sneaking suspicion that I'm not very good at it. This is why my lecture will be rather short. All imperfection is easier to tolerate if served up in small doses.

Jonathan Wolstenholme

Antonia Pozzi | La vita sognata, 1933

Chi mi parla non sa

che io ho vissuto un’altra vita -

come chi dica

una fiaba

o una parabola santa.

Perchè tu eri

la purità mia,

tu cui un’onda bianca

di tristezza cadeva sul volto

Amedeo Modigliani | Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne with her Left Arm Behind her Head

Eleonora Duse a Gabriele D’Annunzio: "Eccoti l’anima mia"

Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) incontra per la prima volta Gabriele D'Annunzio (Scrittore, poeta, drammaturgo, militare, politico, giornalista, 1863-1938) nel 1882, a Roma: quest'ultimo è un giovane affascinante, venuto da poco dagli Abruzzi, ma già potendo vantare la pubblicazione di tre sue opere.

Compare davanti alla Duse e le propone, tout court, di andare a letto con lui.

Eleonora lo congeda con sdegno, ma forse anche con un segreto compiacimento (in quel giorno lo descrive: Già famoso e molto attraente, con i capelli biondi e qualcosa di ardente nella sua persona).

Vittorio Matteo Corcos | Portrait of actress Eleonora Duse | Christie's

Luigi Nono | Genre painter

Luigi Nono (1850-1918) was an Venetian painter.

A young Nono entered the Accademia of Venice, then under the leadership of Pompeo Marino Molmenti. But by at the age of twenty years, he went to Polcenigo in the Friulian countryside, and he began to refine his style of landscape paintings, including Sull' Avemaria, Le sorgenti del Gorgazzo, Ritorno dai campi and Verso sera.

He later returned to painting genre subjects of everyday life, and these paintings would prove to be his most influential.

Peter Falk (Lieutenant Columbo), the painter

Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 - June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor, singer and television director and producer.

He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo on the NBC/ABC series Columbo (1968-1978, 1989-2003), for which he won four Primetime Emmy Awards (1972, 1975, 1976, 1990) and a Golden Globe Award (1973).

In 1996, TV Guide ranked Falk No. 21 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list.

He received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.

Federico García Lorca | Desiderio / Wish

Solo il tuo cuore ardente…

niente più.

Il mio paradiso…

un campo senza usignolo né lire,

con un fiume discreto e una fontanella.

Senza lo sprone del vento sopra le fronde

né la stella che vuole essere foglia.

Tranquillo Cremona | The ivy / Edera, 1878

Rembrandt | The Night Watch, 1642

Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, also known as The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch, but commonly referred to as The Night Watch (Dutch: De Nachtwacht), is a 1642 painting by Rembrandt van Rijn.

It is in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum but is prominently displayed in the Rijksmuseum as the best-known painting in its collection.

The Night Wahtc is one of the most famous Dutch Golden Age paintings.

Rembrandt's large painting (363x437 cm (12 by 14+1⁄2 feet)) is famed for transforming a group portrait of a civic guard company into a compelling drama energized by light and shadow (tenebrism).

The title is a misnomer; the painting does not depict a nocturnal scene.

Giovanni Segantini: ".. Amè piace fare all'amore colle mie concessioni…"

• "… Sarò felice quel giorno che noi in un eletto drappello combatteremo uniti contro la volgarità per la bellezza del senso del colore, per la luce che dà vita alla natura, per la purezza viva e ardente della forma di tutte le cose che dà all’opere nostre quell’armonia ideale dell’anima che si dona all’opera per vivere in essa".

• "… Se si volesse entrare a discorrere seriamente d'arte, per farsi ben capire ed evitare equivoci, sarebbe necessario far precedere un breve trattato di psicologia (nientemeno!). Che altro è l'arte, l'arte bella, vera, elevata, se non l'immagine fotografica, il misuratore che segna il grado di perfezione dell'anima umana?"