Lost Words

The art of Rosa Del Forno is an endless journey through colors and emotions. Lost Words is an intriguing and sensual depiction of a woman enveloped by the colors of the soul and by lost memories, speaking a language of the spirit made of words that only sensitive hearts can decipher. The female figure emerges through bold brushstrokes and vibrant hues, embodying a synthesis of the visible and the invisible, of what is revealed and what is lost in the labyrinth of memory. Her closed eyes hold a guarded secret, a wordless narrative where the body itself becomes the language of the soul. What appears to be a woman is, in reality, a sensory journey, a search for hidden meanings among the colors, where every shade is a word lost in time. The sensuality permeating the work is a silent melody, an intimacy expressed through the universal language of color. The rainbow woman, enveloped in her vibrant aura, stands as an entity of emotions, a mystery revealed only to those willing to immerse themselves completely—senses, mind, heart, and soul—into art and beauty.
Massimo Gherardini, Editor-in-Chief, Dantebus

Critique by Lucas Vianini, delivered on parchment on February 5, 2025, on the occasion of the “Il Gattopardo d’Ibleo” award ceremony at the Teatro delle Muse in Rome

Lost Words

Author: Rosa Del Forno, known in art as Sofia Hale

Rosa Del Forno, known in the art world as Sofia Hale, is an Italian artist who expresses her creativity through the use of vivid colors and a two-dimensional representation of forms. Her preferred technique is acrylic, which allows for brilliant tones and smooth surfaces, giving her works a languid and dreamlike appearance. This stylistic choice recalls the aesthetics of the Transavantgarde movement of the 1980s, which emphasized a return to figurative painting and the expressive use of color.

In particular, the work Lost Words (2023) exemplifies these characteristics, featuring stylized female figures immersed in flat, colorful backgrounds, creating a contrast that highlights both two-dimensionality and chromatic intensity. The artist herself has stated that she was influenced by Kandinsky’s book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, which guided her exploration of color as a means to express profound emotions.

LUCAS VIANINI