15-12-2020
'Anna' from Berardino Rubini is the winner of Painting of the Year 2020! He was announced the winner by the professional jury on December 15th in a live online meeting with the other top 10 finalists. Here is what the jury had to say about the winner:
'The winner of the title Painting of the Year 2020 is Italian bravura at its best. It is a very intense portrait that at the same time radiates a certain resignation. The painting stands with one foot in the Italian tradition of painters such as Giovanni Boldini and Antonio Mancini and with the other foot completely in contemporary painting.
The gaze of the model staring into the emptiness and the doll that almost seems to be strangled make the whole thing a little frightening. And yet it is a representation overloaded with love of an obviously mentally vulnerable woman.
This dichotomy is also reflected in the technical approach and style of painting which is on the one hand very sensitive and realistically perfect, for example in the face of the model and the head of the doll, but on the other hand very daring and coarse with bright colors and firm strokes of the palette knife, especially in the areas around the contours of the model and in the background.
All in all, it is a stunner of a portrait, not only because of its sturdy dimensions (150 by 190 centimeters), but also because it is almost "over the top", yet remains balanced everywhere due to the extreme technical mastery of the artist. A more than well-deserved winner of Painting of the Year 2020.'
Here you can read the full jury reports of the rest of the top 10 of Painting of the year 2020.
