From November 30, 2025 to March 8, 2026, the Osvaldo Licini House Museum in Monte Vidon Corrado (Fermo) presents Sacred Eroticism. Osvaldo Licini’s Living Crosses, an exhibition project curated by Stefano Bracalente dedicated to one of the Marche artist’s most emblematic paintings, made in 1954: Living Crosses. The initiative, promoted by the Licini Study Center and Museum House in collaboration with the Municipality of Monte Vidon Corrado and the Marche Region, aims to delve into the iconography of the Cross in Licini, exploring its connections with earlier and later production, and highlighting the central role of drawing in the definition of the works.
The exhibition itinerary is developed around the central nucleus consisting of the painting Croci Viventi (Living Crosses), belonging to a private collection, and a selection of study-drawings that document the variations and elaborations of the work, emphasizing its derivation from the Archipitture of the late 1930s. These materials allow us to observe how Licini articulated the theme of the sacred and eros in a mythical-primordial key, integrating symbols and forms that constantly return in his work. Alongside the central core, the itinerary offers comparisons with other Licini works referable to the theme of eroticism: from the nudes of the 1920s to the abstract geometries of the 1930s that suggest sensuality and duality, to the Amalassunte and the Rebel Angels, which show the transformation of the cross into erotic and symbolic figures. Works from the 1950s, including the Abstract Marines and the Kite Angels, reveal further metamorphoses of the Living Crosses, highlighting the transition from the sacred image to more complex representations of serpents, fantastic flowers, and androgynous angels. A sketch for theAngel of San Domingo, included in the itinerary, clearly illustrates the centrality of the male-female duality in Licini’s reflection on sacred eroticism.
The exhibition project is in the vein of the focuses promoted in the past by the Licini Study Center and Museum House, already dedicated to theAngel of San Domingo in 2015 and the rediscovered Landscape No. 1 in 2021, with the aim of delving into specific works of great relevance within the artist’s production. The exhibition enhances the permanent collection of drawings held at the Study Center, supplemented by loans from private collectors and the Ascoli Piceno Gallery of Contemporary Art, creating a comparison between historical materials and later interpretations. The exhibition layout occupies several spaces in the Casa Museo. The main nucleus is located in the cellar, where the painting and study-drawings allow visitors to follow Licini’s creative process and the thematic derivations of the work. The Fausto Paci room on the ground floor houses works such as Amalassunta on a blue-green background, Amalassunta with a Red Aureole and Personaggio in particolare, accompanied by a number of drawings, while the bridal chamber, decorated with an Archipittura murale in the Suprematist style, dialogues with the theme of hierogamy and the symbolism of the Cross, recalling the sacred mountain and reflections on the union of eros and the sacred.
The opening is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. at the Monte Vidon Corrado Municipal Theater. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog that constitutes Licini’s Notebook No. 14, published by Amalassunta Edizioni, which thoroughly documents the works on display and the research conducted on the theme of the sacred and eroticism in Licini’s production. The review thus provides an opportunity for study and in-depth analysis to understand the relationships between the early research of the 1920s and 1930s and the mature works of the 1950s, offering an organic vision of the Master’s evolution in the context of twentieth-century Italian painting.
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| Sacred eroticism: Osvaldo Licini's Living Crosses in Monte Vidon Corrado |
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