Stream of people 1896

Pellizza da Volpedo made this large painting on canvas, titled "Stream of People". It is currently displayed at the Palazzo Brera in Milan. The painting presents a crowd of figures moving towards the viewer. Dominant hues of earth tones, combined with a soft, diffused light, create a sense of collective movement, though the faces of the individuals are indistinct, blurring their identities. Volpedo’s piece plays with the relationship between the individual and the collective. The stream of people can be seen as a formal representation of social dynamics. Each figure contributes to a larger structure, yet also retains its individual characteristics. Semiotically, their shared direction symbolizes a unified purpose or destiny. The artist is asking us to consider how individual identities merge and interact within the broader structures of society, as the figures advance towards us, they also invite ongoing interpretation and discourse.