Solar Chakra Empty Bed, 2025

Solar Chakra Empty Bed, 2025, Oil on linen, 200.5 × 160.3 cm, 204.5 × 164 × 5.6 cm (framed)

Patrizio di Massimo – Empty Bed Series

In the series Empty Bed, Patrizio di Massimo shifts his gaze from presence to absence, transforming the unmade bed into a silent yet eloquent portrait. Long known for his intimate depictions of friends and family, in this series he focuses on what remains when the figure disappears. Pillows, blankets, and sheets—rendered with exquisite attention to form—become vessels of memory, echoing the human presence that once inhabited them.

Originating from earlier works dedicated to three close friends who passed away in 2023, the series evolved into a broader and more introspective exploration of abstraction. Across six paintings, di Massimo turns the bed—traditionally a site of intimacy, conflict, or affection—into the subject itself. The result is a profound meditation on absence, loss, and transformation. Each composition is charged with emotional tension. The folds of fabric carry traces of gesture and presence; the recurring third pillow quietly evokes themes of family, care, and relational space. These are not simply still lifes, but portraits of what has passed—of closeness, of grief, of time unfolding.

Empty Bed marks a pivotal development in di Massimo’s practice: a shift from dramatic figuration to symbolic space, from narrative presence to contemplative stillness. And yet, these paintings speak—softly, insistently—of identity, intimacy, and the invisible threads that bind us. Through these works, di Massimo creates a space that hovers between the tangible and the spiritual, between what is seen and what is felt. The beds are empty, but never void. They are filled with what lingers.