INTERVIEW WITH MIRANDA MAGISTRELLI
BY PAOLO FUMAGALLI

“Before darkness comes, from the window behind which I paint, I see the sun
which sets beyond the Alps and transforms the roofs of Vercelli into a blaze of red"
Painting, knowing how to paint, is the dream of many, especially those who do not
they understand how it is possible, through the brush, to reproduce reality with sometimes astonishing perfection. A question of technique, some argue; but we believe
that technique, alone, generates soulless works, because the painting must contain it
spirit of the painter, the colors, the structure of the painting must be the mirror of the soul.
Stimulated by our questions Miranda Magistrelli, who lives and works in Vercelli since
several years, she agreed to make her own portrait as a painter, artist and woman.
Mrs Magistrelli, what are your origins?
“I am from a large town in the Milan area, Magenta, and mine was a good one
family of workers, like many others"
When and how did you arrive in Vercelli?
I arrived in Vercelli thirty-five years ago, marrying a man from Vercelli. At first I suffered
because I wasn't able to immediately introduce myself into the city environment"
What were you doing at that time?

“I was a housewife and wife, but the emptiness of housework destroyed me because
inside me I felt something different: I had cultivated the passion since I was a girl
of painting, of writing, so I tried to fill my days by cultivating my own
passion, which prevented me from falling into dangerous depressive crises. I tried to
bring out what has always been in my soul"
These were the beginnings, what happened afterwards?
“I started attending school in Rinone with which I established a wonderful relationship,
for me he was a teacher and a great friend: I felt like working alongside him
well, he left me very free because he immediately understood that I had my own personality, I had
of ideas that did not want to be contaminated by others"
Was he looking for money and glory?
"Absolutely not. For me it was an instinctive need, the same one that drives each of us
to express something in life, otherwise he already feels dead"
When did you have your first solo show?
“About ten years ago and I did it at the request of others; personally I'm very shy,
very shy even though on the surface I seem outgoing. The judgments of the public, the incomprehension of others makes me sad. I must say that this first exhibition was very successful, both critically and commercially; my paintings even ended up in Japan.”

Was this a big incentive to continue?
“That's right, my parents organized another solo show of mine in Magenta and also in
this case was a great success. Afterwards my parents no longer had time to organize exhibitions for me and, since I lack practical sense, I don't have the strength to organize a solo exhibition".
He didn't have any more exhibitions but he continued to work, to paint.
“I have always tried to do increasingly beautiful, increasingly refined things, also going out
from my favorite theme which are flowers and roses"
How many paintings did he paint?
“To tell the truth, few, because I see a painting over and over again; since not
I am driven by the desire to make money, I seek aesthetic perfection, in shape and features
colors".
When you open the window of your house in the morning, what do you see?
“Depending on the day. I think I'm a woman with a dual personality: in
some moments I am practical and down to earth, in others I am a dreamer outside of reality: for this reason my vision of reality is very different depending on the day
and my moods. I don't only see the positive side but also all the bad in life: the latter is a constant that I try to cover with the beauty of flowers, which I often paint"
Is art therefore a refuge?
“A closing one's eyes to the torturous sadness of life
”What is suffering for you?
"Live"

Do you justify the suffering?
“I'll start by saying that I have never understood what suffering is and what life is: to see
life I have to think about death. I don't tolerate suffering: my sensitivity leaves
overwhelmed by pain, which begins when one is born. If I were to be a creator
I would remove the suffering from life, because, no matter how bad it is, I would be able to forgive mine
worst enemy"
What is your opinion on death?
“If it were the end it would be the greatest joy for me, liberation. The fear of reliving
it makes me suffer like the fear of illness"
Do you believe in the afterlife?
“I still have very confused ideas. I see a great darkness, I can't give, on the spot,
correct answers, I have written a lot on this topic. I was educated
very religiously, but I am convinced that life is human suffering; if in this one
If free will existed in life, and it's not true, you should ask a human being if
wants or doesn't want to live: I would have opted for no. Today I just want to finish
because I have already seen enough: in my opinion life is born in a very cruel way, there
life is the abuse of the strongest, it is the very conception of the strongest and all beings more
weak are selected. My art comes from this continuous suffering, from this
my internal conflict; I would go crazy if I kept thinking about these things and I couldn't
have the outlet of art"
What is Vercelli for you

“A very beautiful city because it has human dimensions”
On an artistic level, what does it express?
“Until ten years ago there were very specific trends. Now, not only that
in Vercelli, there is an emergence of galloping personalities: here too there is a large number
of people who want to become someone or something, but not for themselves, because
they want to express something, an inner feeling, but because they want to be on the
crest of the wave"
How do you see this city on a cultural level?
“People are educated but not cultured, in some respects. Because culture is what
remains of education; not all of us can become cultured people and at the same time not
everyone can become creative people, because education, if it is not assimilated,
it becomes a sterile thing"
Photography and painting are sometimes combined; what do you think of the photographer Luciano
“Cabin” Giachetti? In your opinion, is he a creative person?
“In my opinion he is a philosopher of the camera slung over his shoulder”
But is it the car that transports him or he that transports the car?
“A porter carries the car, a philosopher carries ideas”
If you could summarize all the aspects of the city of Vercelli in a painting, what would it depict?
“The Bell Tower of Sant'Andrea, Piazza Cavour have been painted too much and too much
photographed. For me the ingredients would be different: I would put gestural shapes and forms on the canvas
strange because Vercelli has many faces, many aspects"

What colors would you use?
“Since I am a person with multifaceted vision I am not like many
painters who only use gray or beige because they are easily absorbable colors
and which doesn't hurt, I would use all the colors of the palette depending on the seasons and the feelings of the citizens of Vercelli" There is not just one moment: for example spring in Vercelli is green, with its tree-lined avenues, in this season it is one of the most beautiful cities in
world"
Let us now close this ideal window: before darkness comes as the city of sees
Vercelli?
“Before it gets dark, from the window behind which I paint, I see the sun setting
beyond the Alps and transforms the roofs of Vercelli into a blaze of red"
When the Vercelli native goes to bed, is he calm or unhappy?
“He can't be unhappy because he lives in a fairly rich city: farmers have
reached unprecedented levels of well-being. Painters and writers, on the other hand, are idealists,
a whole other category"

Are they crazy?
“In a good way obviously, in a brilliant way. It must be said that the common man judges
crazy is what is beyond his mental conception"
She's happy?
“No… I'm not a happy woman. I am a woman who tries, every day, to be
as unhappy as possible, looking every day for a little joy that can alleviate this
unhappiness. I always try to smile."
Do these travails help you in your art?
“I am a woman who thinks a lot, I try to penetrate unsolvable existential problems”
What are you currently preparing on a professional level?
“I try to express my sufferings, my joys, my contradictions in a way
different"

He does not think that, since the artist must throw these his sensations into some
way, is art a sort of ballast?
“More than ballast, the artist throws out ideas, the fruit of his own unconscious”
But don't you think that we all have, ultimately, ballast to throw away?
“I just think that we all arrive at the end of the line ugly, sick, tired and empty; but most of all
disappointed, from the humble to the important.”

Paolo Fumagalli