Heritage Malta’s touring exhibition Celebrating Giuseppe Calì – the second in the outreach series ‘Your MUŻA’ – has reached Lija, where the artist’s brushstrokes created both beauty and bold critique.
Celebrating Giuseppe Calì brings together some of the artist’s most renowned masterpieces, including The Death of Dragut (from MUŻA), alongside art pieces from contemporaries, artistic sketches, his baptismal and death records, and other documents shedding light on aspects of the artist’s life.
Born in Valletta in 1846, Calì trained in Naples before returning to Malta, where he quickly became one of the island’s most sought-after artists.
In Lija, his brilliance is still visible in works such as the Immaculate Conception and the Crucifixion (1891), the dome of the parish church (1893), and Jesus with the Children on the painted ceiling of the same church (1897).
Calì often used art to convey his thoughts and opinions. In Lija, he painted the prophet Jonah aghast at another artist’s disproportioned figures, and portrayed Micheas as himself, inscribing Fame Pereo (“I am dying of hunger”) across his chest – a plea for fair pay. On the backing panel of his Crucifixion (1891), Calì even left a poem lamenting the preference for Italian painters over Maltese ones, a struggle that marked much of his career.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Mark Sagona, head of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Malta.
“The response to this exhibition, now at its third stop, has been truly encouraging”
Mario Cutajar, director of MUŻA, chair of Heritage Malta and curator of this exhibition, said: “The response to this exhibition, now at its third stop, has been truly encouraging. This is a positive sign on many levels: it shows that MUŻA’s initiatives are reaching people and being appreciated, while also raising awareness about Maltese art and, above all, Maltese artists.”
He added that such success motivates them to continue building on such work – not only through MUŻA Ħdejk and the Malta Biennale, which is currently in full preparation for its second edition next year, but also through new initiatives and the ongoing transformation of the museum, “as it continues to grow and fulfil the objectives for which it was created”.
A richly illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition, available for purchase in print on site and online and digitally.
The exhibition runs at the Christ the Saviour parish church in Lija until September 29, before proceeding to Sliema for its final stop. Opening hours are from 9am till 5.45pm from Monday to Saturday, and from noon to 4.30pm on Sunday. Admission is free.
