Casa Balla
artist's house
temporarily closed
everything is extraordinary
a grand total art project
the extraordinary futurist house of Giacomo Balla is a laboratory of experimentation created by Balla with his daughters, Luce and Elica, where functionality and aesthetics coexist.
a magical place of metamorphosis
a new and vital union where Art envelope everything
an atmosphere refelecting the ideas expressed in the Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe manifesto, signed by Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero in 1915.
a universe studded with shapes and colours
the home is a workshop
a space made up of objects, furniture, and furnishings that, though poor in matter, are rich in creative flair and make the flat a truly magical place.
a place chosen as a work of art
In June 1929, the Balla family moved into their home in the Della Vittoria district of Rome.
Giacomo Balla, together with his wife Elisa Marcucci and their two daughters Luce and Elica, reluctantly moved into a ‘clerical’ flat, as Elica herself defines it in her memoirs, which was to become for them the home of a lifetime, a place transformed into a work of art.
where artworks
are at home
the painting Espansione Fiore n.17 (c. 1929), now part of the MAXXI Collection, returns to the artist’s home, the place where the transformation of the flat into a work of ‘total’ art began, and can be seen up close in the main room of the House. This and other canvases were initially mounted in the corridor to cover the space in which the water pipes passed. They depicted the subjects of Balla’s artistic production of the 1910s and 1920s: speed, spatial dynamism, the forces of nature, puns, and Art Deco.
Special thanks to IGT for supporting preventive conservation measures and activities for the painting.
Declared of cultural interest by the Ministry of Culture in 2004, it underwent initial restoration work conducted by the Central Institute for Restoration. More recently, the Special Superintendency of Rome and the heirs, in collaboration with the Bank of Italy, have promoted further restoration work on the flat and the works it contains. Thanks to the long and careful work of reconnaissance, study and securing of the property carried out by MAXXI and the Special Superintendency of Rome, it has only now been possible to fit out the house and finally make it accessible to the public, restoring its soul as a creative forge.
