Francesco Clemente Paints A Multicultural Landscape | Brilliant Ideas Ep. 9

The 1998 film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” was a visual treat, with several scenes reminiscent of fairy tales as the story was presented through the protagonist, a painter. The artist’s unique, elementary drawings of nature depicting fish, cats, seagulls and stars were contrasted with mature dark portraits. Although the dichotomy was quite stark, all the works featured in the film were created by a single artist: Italian painter Francesco Clemente.A student of the classics, Clemente became interested in Eastern culture through his travels.

Enchanted by the aesthetics of India in particular, the artist began to experiment in his work by blending East and West together. His ideas today fuse together Italy’s ancient art, literature, mythology and religion with classical Western elements. In the ninth episode of Brilliant Ideas brought to you by Bloomberg and Hyundai, meet the artist and his eclectic ideas.