The Republic of San Marino is celebrating the the colour, light and poetry of work of contemporary Italian artist Nicola De Maria.
The show in the wee nation's Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art spotlights some 40 paintings by the Campania region artist, who shot to fame in the early 1980s as part of the Transavanguardia movement.
Born in 1956, De Maria graduated in medicine but was always captivated by art.
He appeared in his first group exhibition in 1973, with solo shows following in Naples and Genoa in 1975
In 1977, he started making a name for himself after the creation of his first wall painting in Milan, followed by a second mural later that year for the Paris Biennial.
De Maria has since created numerous murals, sometimes referred to as ''space paintings'', as they are designed to imbue the space they occupy.
Five of his large-scale canvases appear in the show, but his smaller, dreamier works on paper are the focus of the exhibit.
These pieces are largely characterized by their fascination with colour, lyricism and fantasy.
A number of them feature symbolic writing, expressing his poetical vision, and he has written in detail about the meaning of his metaphorical pieces.
Symbolism and fable played an increasingly important part in his work from the 1980s onwards, at the same time as his art grew evermore abstract.
The series entitled Regno dei Fiori (Kingdom of Flowers), on public display for the first time at this exhibit, is typical of this development.
Another characteristic piece is the well-known La Testa Allegra Di Un Angelo Bello (The Happy Head of A Beautiful Angel), which consists of a brilliantly coloured mural and a sealed, battered suitcase, reportedly filled with De Maria's drawings.
The exhibit, which spans De Maria's career, including some of his latest works, highlights the artist's lengthy love affair with colour, a reflection of his deep-rooted fascination with the bright Mediterranean world.
The exhibition runs in San Marino's Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art until September 7.
