Explore the Background of this artwork, Stalingrad (painting).
In the 1950s, after a long and difficult period in hospital suffering from tuberculosis, Jorn had embarked on figurative painting hoping to reestablish himself at the European level. He often stylistically reacted against his method as a painter, overpainting the edges or the background to create artifacts. By 1956, he had set up a studio in the small Italian town of Albisola near Genoa, where he began to compose a large painting that he initially titled La ritirata di Russia (The Retreat from Russia); the painting had been inspired by stories told by his friend Umberto Gambetta, who had fought with the Italians in the Battle of Stalingrad (1942–1943) before spending years in Russian prisoner-of-war camps from which few survived. The painting had seemed to have detailed these events to such an extent that Gambetta referred to it as "my portrait"; Jorn ensured that all such personal references were covered over so as to enhance the work's universal significance. He then renamed the painting Le fou rire (sometimes translated The Mad Laughter) and sent it off to Brussels where a collector had shown interest in the painting; it was acquired by the restaurant owner Albert Niels who allowed Jorn to work on it further. It was also seen by the Dutch museum expert Willem Sandberg who arranged for it to be sent to the Seattle World Fair in 1961. Subsequently, the final painting, eventually completed in 1972, was renamed Stalingrad.
Genoa Seattle World Fair Albisola Battle of Stalingrad Willem Sandberg