The Madonna

“For the pinks, I took inspiration from Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks. The warm pink tones in the sunsets here also influence this aspect of my palette. The way the sky lights up in beautiful pinks sometimes feels like a warm embrace.”

Navigating through the Sea of the Sublime, in touch with the emotions of the landscape, the artist opens up to more earthly emotions. This correlation between external and internal landscape led to a fascination interest from Gagliano to Madonna series from her Renaissance inspiration. In particular, she was drawn to Alba Madonna and The Madonna of the Pinks, where Raphael’s tenderness towards the feminine gender is particularly visible. In the second painting, the skin color of Madonna's cheek tainted by her deep emotional state and reminiscent of the color of the flower petal she holds, is establishing a connection between a botanical element and a human emotion / an emotional state.

Focusing her research on Raphael’s Madonna series is a way for Gagliano to celebrate and elevate those feminine figures and what they represent. The contrast between the images of celebrated Madonnas, in a historical context where women were often regarded as property, is striking. This contradiction is also a challenge that the artist had to reconcile as a woman of her time, surrounded by many voices, especially during her art school years, advising her to choose between her artistic career and her life as a mother. But as a pure creative being, extending the freedom of her canvas to her entire life design, Gagliano refused to settle for one limited option presented by society. She decided to create her own path where she would thrive but as a professional painter and a mother of three.

She hence designed a specific artistic process that would be sustainable with her family daily commitments. These techniques are a unique blend of managing the natural rhythms of the seasons, the practicalities of painting, and the demands of running a household. For instance, she would carefully plan her gold glazing sessions to fit her schedule, such as running the children to soccer, considering that gold takes longer to dry.

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