Raphael in Pigments

Deeply inspired by the language of landscape and committed to an environmentally conscious artistic practice, Michelle Gagliano has dedicated her life to painting in and with nature, honoring its grace and complexity. This reverence led her to study Raphael with particular intensity—not only for his mastery of form but as part of her search for sustainable alternatives to synthetic materials. In her pursuit of natural pigments to replace chemical paints, Gagliano looked back to the most prolific painter of the High Renaissance.

Over several years, she immersed herself in Raphael’s remarkable use of earth-based pigments such as ultramarine, madder lake, verdigris, vermilion, as well as red, brown, and yellow ochres. Drawing on Il Libro dell’Arte by Cennino Cennini—a foundational manual of artisanal techniques passed down to Renaissance painters—she developed a deep understanding of pigment properties and how to integrate them into her own compositions. By returning to these centuries-old recipes, Gagliano not only reclaims a lost material intimacy but also circumvents the use of modern materials often laden with microplastics and toxic elements such as cobalt and cadmium.

In her work, these natural pigments—mineral compounds and colored rocks offered by the earth—become tools for capturing ever-changing phenomena like light, weather, and atmosphere. The dialogue between the lyricism of blue skies and the grounding tones of earth creates a balance that echoes philosophical tensions between materiality and idealism. Her landscapes seem to synthesize Aristotelian materialism and Platonic transcendence—an embrace of Neoplatonism reminiscent of Raphael himself.

In this way, Gagliano’s abstract reinterpretations evoke the intellectual spirit of The School of Athens, where classical philosophers are brought into dialogue. Her canvases offer not only a visual exploration of nature but also a philosophical meditation on harmony, tradition, and ecological responsibility.

— extract from the exhibition catalogue A casa, text by curator Julia Rajacic