"Tulips for Andy Warhol": the Ravenna mosaic now illuminates the tomb of the father of Pop Art in Pittsburgh.
The work by the Dis-Ordine association of Ravenna, born from a four-year project and inspired by a drawing by Francesco Clemente, was placed on Andy Warhol's grave in St. John's Cemetery.
“Tulips for Andy Warhol”: the mosaic from Ravenna that now illuminates the tomb of the father of Pop Art in Pittsburgh.
After four years of work, research and international exchanges , the Tulips mosaic – designed and created by the Dis-Ordine association of Ravenna – has finally reached its final destination: Andy Warhol's tomb in the Byzantine Catholic cemetery of St. John, in Pittsburgh.
The work, a unique and symbolic tribute to the father of Pop Art , will remain permanently located at the artist's burial site, strengthening an ideal bridge between Ravenna , the capital of mosaics, and American visual culture.
The project originates from an intuition that developed in 2021 , during a meeting at Casa Matha in Ravenna dedicated to the links between Warhol and Dante.
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It was from that conference that the idea was born, almost by magic – as Marcello Landi , president of Dis-Ordine, recounts – of creating an artistic gesture capable of “filling the regret” of not having managed to bring Warhol to Ravenna in the 1980s.
The mosaic, inspired by an original drawing by Francesco Clemente – a personal friend of Warhol – depicts two tulips , the artist's favourite flowers.
The work was created with vitreous enamels from the Orsoni glassworks in Venice by Sofia Laghi and Isabella Merendi, under the supervision of Elena Pagani and Marcello Landi, and with the technical support of Tommaso Bonzi and Edoardo Missiroli. The dimensions, 89 x 26 x 4 cm , lend the mosaic elegance and chromatic intensity, making it a discreet yet powerful tribute.
Before leaving for the United States, Tulips was officially presented at the MAR – Ravenna City Art Museum , reconfirming the city's vocation to dialogue with contemporary art through the age-old language of mosaic.
The mosaic adorns a tomb that had previously remained almost bare, visited by enthusiasts who left Coca-Cola bottles and Campbell's Soup cans as a sentimental ritual . The work thus brings a sign of care and beauty where previously there was only essentiality.
Fundamental to the authorization was the collaboration of Eleonora Gardini and Damiana Leoni , who presented the project to Donald Warhola , Andy's nephew, obtaining his full support: “He really liked the mosaic,” says Landi.
Ravenna's Councillor for Culture, Fabio Sbaraglia , commented: “Thanks to this initiative, our city pays homage to one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century.
The mosaic demonstrates once again the contemporary strength of the mosaic language and the international role of Ravenna."
With Tulips , a fragment of Ravenna reaches Pittsburgh and encounters the history of Pop Art , in an artistic dialogue that transcends borders, eras and traditions.
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