Amusement, astonishment, irritation, even indignation: the composite heads of Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526/7-1593) may prompt a whole range of emotions, but no one can remain indifferent to them. Combining the impact of surprise with the aesthetics of the bizarre, his art - reflecting the religious and political upheavals that shook Europe in the second half of the sixteenth century - invites ambivalent responses. For Arcimboldo, aesthetics took precedence over reality, and invenzione was more important than being true to life. A master in the art of sensory deception and an artist of virtuoso technical and conceptual skills, he created an oeuvre whose fascination is as much visual as intellectual.

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