Being artists. A divergent view of children’s art and 20th Century art

The works on display were created by five-year-old children from the Don Giovanni Nava Infant School in Lecco in the school year 2023/24, through an educational project designed and led by Clara Paderno, Art Therapist. By observing the numerous correspondences between the children’s drawings and the works of some great artists, a path was created that proposed a parallelism with the art of the 20th century avant-gardes.

This association between children’s art and avant-garde art, expressly declared by many artists such as Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee, is a subject that has animated the research and debates of pedagogists, psychologists and anthropologists from all over the world for more than half a century.

The exhibition highlights the wealth of expressive content that each individual possesses from birth, a wealth that the children freely brought out during the workshops. In fact, the aim of the exhibition is to give value to children’s creativity and return to the community a glimpse of unexpected connections.

The exhibition will be completed by a painting workshop on Saturday 12 April from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Uberto Pozzoli Civic Library, for children aged 5 to 10 years, booking required.