Marino Marini's Pomonas

Pomona is the Etruscan goddess of fertility, who represents Mother Nature, life itself, the ideal of a serene and idyllic rural world. Marino Marini was a great sculptor who was born in Pistoia but lived in Milan and Paris. Here he was able to work alongside characters such as Picasso, De Chirico, Kandinskij while in his private life he was friends with Jean Miro ’and Henry Moore.

Despite this international spirit, with no doubt arising from the universality of his artistic language, Marino Marini felt deeply connected to Tuscany, his homeland, and to its present-day traditions as well as those of yore. His art often has its roots in this past that is not a simple source of inspiration but an integral part of the artist's way of seeing the world. Indeed, Marini's response to the question of how Etruscan art influenced him is famous: ‘No, I am not inspired (by Etruscan art) I am Etruscan!’

It was this deep bond that sparked off a series of wonderful works: Pomonas. These are drawings, paintings and sculptures made between 1939 and 1950 that represent female nudes with common characteristics. Ultimately, they are variations of the same subject. This is how Marini himself describes them: ‘they live in a sunny world, a sunny poem, full of humanity, abundance and great sensuality. In all these images femininity is enriched with all its most remote, immanent and mysterious meanings: a kind of ineluctable necessity, immovable stillness and primitive and unconscious fertility’.

It is truly fascinating to learn how contemporary art is combined with the ancient art of the Etruscans! Even more fascinating, however, is seeing the Pomonas in person! Where? Obviously in Pistoia at the Marino Marini Museum but you can also find one at the Uffizi. So, if you are in Florence, book our Guided Tour of the Uffizi, enjoying the convenient skip-the-line service to avoid the long queues. Perfect then, Marino Marini's Pomonas await you in the land of the Etruscans!