I miei modelli

I miei modelli (My Models, 1888) is an unusual self-reflexive work in which Segantini depicts not a landscape or peasant subject but the animals — sheep and goats — that served as his primary 'models' for the animal subjects central to his art. The title's use of the word 'models' collapses the distinction between artistic procedure and pastoral observation: for Segantini, working directly from animals in the Alpine pastures was as rigorous a discipline as working from the human figure in a studio. By 1888 he had moved to Savognin in Switzerland and was deeply engaged with the animal life of the Alpine community. His divisionist technique had recently emerged and was being applied experimentally to different subjects. The Kunsthaus Zürich holds this work alongside other key Segantini pieces as part of its major collection. The painting is also a statement about artistic values: Segantini's choice of sheep and goats as his models, rather than professional human models in a studio, declares his commitment to the Alpine pastoral as both subject and working environment. It is simultaneously humble — these are humble animals — and assertive: this is where I work, and this is how.

The divisionist stroke is applied to animal subjects — wool, hide, the texture of fleece — with particular care. Wool is one of the most optically complex surfaces Segantini encountered: it absorbs light, scatters it, and reflects it differently according to the animal's posture. He renders it through dense, varied strokes that capture its simultaneously soft and structured quality.