"As I believe in human intelligence – and it’s all I believe in – I’m convinced that the humans of the future will have a totally new world."
Lucio Fontana
Attesa (Expectation) was the title Lucio Fontana gave to his most well-known series today. It consists of canvases whose surfaces have been slashed one or more times. When they have several slashes they are called Attese (Expectations). Fontana made the first Attesa works in 1958. He continued the series with numerous variations – in sculpture as well – until his death.
‘Expectation’ implies the future, an event that will or might occur. It conveys a feeling of optimism and belief in progress. It also contains a thoughtful echo, the idea of a beyond. As Fontana himself said, the slash in the canvas was ‘an act of faith in the infinite’. When he immersed himself in one of his slashed paintings he felt completely free – as a human being to whom the present and future were open.
