A commissioned painting can begin with a wall left empty and a feeling still difficult to define. For Francesca and Gianluca, that wall, around three metres wide, had been waiting for two years.
They contacted me on Instagram, looking for a textured abstract artwork with a precise relationship to their home. Before choosing the size, we devoted a video call to their story: three children, demanding jobs and busy days, but also shared experiences that continued to bring them together.
Before colours, listening
During our discussion, the places where they had felt most free from routine emerged. The aim was not to reproduce holiday photographs: we were looking for the emotional character of those memories, to transform it into an everyday presence.
Monument Valley, Thailand and Australia became the project’s three references. Each journey brought colours, feelings and a different way of being together.
Three places, three painting characters
The rocks and earth of Monument Valley guided a denser painting style with a strong textured presence. For Thailand, greenery and the movement of water entered the work, linked to the feeling of being immersed in the landscape. The Australian memory opened the composition to the light of sunset and the meeting of sky and sea.
The triptych brings these characters together without making them identical. The panels retain their own identities and read as chapters of a single story.
Working with texture
Colour and surface are part of the same language. Preparing the palette and working in relief create passages that change with the light. Looking at the painting up close reveals the marks left by the application of paint and the differences between the three canvases.
Proportions in the space
The wall and the table in front of the artwork required a dedicated study. Previews in the space allowed us to compare sizes, gaps between panels and overall dimensions. Small variations changed the balance of the composition within the space.
The project images show both studies of individual panels and the triptych solution. Discussion guided the choice until the relationship between the paintings, wall and furnishings was defined.
A wall that tells a shared story
After the installation, Francesca told me that sitting at the table and looking at the triptych had become a way to reconnect with those experiences. The artwork gave the room a focal point linked to their lives.
That is the meaning of this process: arriving at a painting that belongs to those who live with it, through the time devoted to listening, design and creation.
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