Funeral of the Anarchist Galli

Funeral of the Anarachist Galli

With Milan being the Italian hub for industrialization in the late 1800s/early 1900s, the death of anarchist Angelo Galli sparked political conflict between the anarchists and the police. Angelo Galli was stabbed to death by factory security guards in response to the strike he helped orchestrate; this strike was a direct result of a Royal Guard opening fire on workers of the factory. Funeral of the Anarchist Galli depicts the disturbance amongst the mourning for Galli. This piece by Carrà focuses on showing the passion and seemingly endless outrage by Galli’s supporters. The first prominent aspect of this painting is the overpowering use of dark colors. Carrà mainly used darker variations of black and red, which symbolizes death and anger, respectively. His color choice chooses to portray the overall mood of the funeral, mourning the sad, untimely death of Galli while mixed with the anarchist passion from his supporters. Another key feature of this piece is the ambiguity among the canvas. Aside from the character in the middle, there’s not much definition among the rest of the crowd. This goes to show the seemingly “infinite number who attended” (Bianciotti, Modernist Art: Carlo Carra’s ‘Funerali dell’anarchio Galli’). This ambiguity represents the number and power behind the movement. The dominant stance by the man in the middle in addition to the flags being flown really brings home the dominant passion this movement comes with. At the beginning of the Futurist movement, Carrà beautifully portrays the dominant, passion, and industrialization themes from this Neo-Italy movement.