Not interested in constructing new forms or discovering modern materials, Fornasetti was a protagonist of home environments. He favored decoration that had the power to amaze and cancel preconceived notions of space, logic and design. He searched constantly for surprise, magic and enchantment and, in the manner of De Chirico and the Surrealists, Fornasetti created illusion and abolished space-temporal logic with his fantastically decorated objects.

Created in 1953, this important work embodies Piero Fornasetti’s unique design philosophy. The chest of drawers, while not modern, is an archetypal form and anonymous in its simplicity. For Fornasetti, design was irrelevant; the cabinet was only a pretext for decoration, like a canvas for painting. The decoration of this work exhibits Fornastetti’s mastery of drawing and the trompe-l’oeil technique. The motif Palladiana, is one Fornasetti highly valued and one that continues to be a staple of the Fornasetti studio today. The motif features a 16th century villa with a classic garden in the Italian style. By Palladio, naturally? Absolutely not. Precisely because nothing is ever what it seems with Fornasetti and because he often conceals the truth, the work depicts a 16th century Austrian villa.

This cabinet comes from Fornasetti’s Villa in Varena.


This cabinet in the interior of Fornasetti's Villa in Varena. Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Fornasetti