Description
Mario Ceroli – Mobili nella Valle
Mario Ceroli (Castel Frentano, 1938) is one of the most original and recognizable figures in Italian art of the second half of the 20th century. A sculptor, artist, designer, and set designer, Ceroli developed a body of work deeply rooted in wood, transforming a natural and everyday material into monumental works of art, sculptures, installations, and furniture.
Based in Rome, Ceroli emerged in the 1960s through a radical exploration of material, form, and space. Raw wood became the defining feature of his practice: boards, silhouettes, and structures were assembled and layered to create figures, architectural forms, and environments, in a continuous dialogue between sculpture, design, and installation.
His work developed within the cultural climate of Italian Pop Art and Arte Povera, while maintaining a distinctive and immediately recognizable visual language. Ceroli’s interest in material and spatial construction gradually led him to transcend the traditional boundaries between the work of art and the functional object.
Mobili nella Valle
In 1965, Mario Ceroli developed Mobili nella Valle, an extraordinary three-dimensional interpretation of the homonymous composition by Giorgio de Chirico. Elements of Metaphysical painting were transferred from the surface of the canvas into real space, becoming fully realized sculptural furniture.
Tables, chairs, armchairs, beds, and other furnishings acquire a new dimension: they are not simply functional objects, but become habitable works of art, capable of engaging with architecture and the surrounding space.
Mobili nella Valle represents one of the most significant moments in Ceroli’s investigation into the relationship between art and Italian design. The project deliberately dissolves the distinction between sculpture and furniture, transforming the furnishing into an artistic presence and sculpture into an element of everyday space.
A fundamental element of the series is the use of raw wood, a material that Ceroli allows to express its natural character. The surface, grain, texture, and structure of the wood become integral to the work, giving each piece a strong tactile and architectural presence. Among the woods documented in the series is Russian pine.
La Bocca della Verità
Among the most emblematic works in Mobili nella Valle is the monumental “La Bocca della Verità” bed, one of the most compelling examples of Ceroli’s transformation of furniture into contemporary sculpture.
With its imposing proportions, geometric construction, and the powerful material presence of raw wood, the bed transcends its traditional function to become a true form of domestic architecture.
La Bocca della Verità perfectly expresses Ceroli’s artistic language: essential forms, natural materials, and a monumental conception of space come together in an object intended simultaneously for everyday life and contemplation.
Examples produced by Poltronova in the 1970s are today of particular interest to international collectors of Italian Modernism, collectible design, and historical design.
Mario Ceroli, Poltronova and Collectible Design
Ceroli’s collaboration with Poltronova places Mobili nella Valle within the extraordinary period of Italian radical design, when artists and designers began challenging the traditional boundaries between art, design, and industrial production.
In Ceroli’s work, furniture is no longer merely an object intended for use: it becomes a functional sculpture, an architectural element, and an artistic presence within the environment.
This fusion of Italian Modernism, Arte Povera, wood sculpture, and collectible design makes Mobili nella Valle one of the most distinctive expressions of Italian culture in the second half of the 20th century and particularly significant within the international collectible design market.
Mario Ceroli built his artistic language by transforming simple materials into monumental, poetic, and highly recognizable works. Mobili nella Valle stands as one of the most original expressions of this vision: art to inhabit, design to collect, and sculpture to experience.
