VIA SOLIS, a horizontal abstract painting by Maurizio Valch, with a white path in perspective between red and ochre fields, yellow and orange blocks, a green band, and an orange sun against a pink sky. — Maurizio Valch, VIA SOLIS, MARE SOMNIORUM series. 120 × 80 × 3 cm.

Side view of Maurizio Valch’s VIA SOLIS in a gallery: a horizontal painting with a white path between red planes and yellow and orange blocks; a visitor views it from the corridor. — VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch, viewed from the side in a gallery.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch installed on a concrete wall, viewed from the side in a gallery corridor; it shows a white path between yellow and orange blocks. — VIA SOLIS in side view: the white path narrows between yellow and orange blocks, while the corridor visually extends its direction.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch displayed on a white panel in a gallery, amid corridors and other works. The horizontal painting shows a white path between red, ochre, yellow, and orange planes beneath a pink sky. — VIA SOLIS, 120 × 80 cm, presented in an exhibition space. The white path introduces depth among warm masses and vertical forms of uncertain scale.

Close detail of VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch: yellow blocks and a green band with a small incised staircase beside the white path. — Detail of VIA SOLIS, where a barely visible incised staircase introduces a human scale between the white path and the large fields of colour.

Side detail of VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch: red, ochre and orange fields continue over the painting’s 3 cm edge, beside a concrete wall. — The colour of VIA SOLIS extends over the edge, asserting the work’s physical depth against the concrete.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch, a horizontal painting in red, yellow, orange, and pale pink, displayed on a large gallery wall; a woman walks in front of the work. — VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch, installed in an exhibition space.

Close table-level view of VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch, with the canvas edge visible, a white path, orange and yellow blocks, and an orange sun against a pink ground. — Close view of VIA SOLIS: the canvas edge and weave make the relationship between suggested distance and the painting’s material presence visible.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch, an abstract painting in red, orange, and yellow tones with a white path, installed on a textured concrete wall. — VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch, presented on a concrete wall: the white path and warm fields retain their precision against the weathered surface.

Side view of VIA SOLIS, an abstract painting by Maurizio Valch: a white road between yellow, orange, and green planes; the red edge and canvas weave are visible. — Side detail of VIA SOLIS, where the white road, warm planes, and painted edge reveal the work’s material depth.

VIA SOLIS, an abstract painting by Maurizio Valch, seen at an angle on a grey hallway wall; a white path crosses red, orange, and yellow fields beneath an orange sun. — Side view of VIA SOLIS in a contemporary hallway. The white path narrows between warm fields and vertical forms, maintaining an open direction.

VIA SOLIS, a painting by Maurizio Valch, installed in a large museum gallery with a gridded ceiling and overhead light; it shows a white path between red, orange, and yellow fields, vertical blocks, and an orange sun against a pink sky. — VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch in an exhibition gallery. The white path crosses a territory of reds, ochres, and luminous volumes without fixing a destination.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch displayed on a black museum panel; the painting shows a white path between red, yellow, and green planes beneath an orange sun. — VIA SOLIS against a black panel: the white path structures the distance between warm fields and blocks of colour.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch installed on a concrete panel in an industrial gallery space, alongside large suspended monochrome portraits of workers. — VIA SOLIS in dialogue with portraits of workers: the white path and small incised stairways take on a human scale without resolving their destination.

A visitor passes in front of VIA SOLIS, an abstract painting by Maurizio Valch installed on a red gallery wall, with a white path between orange fields and yellow blocks. — A moving figure passes before VIA SOLIS; their movement contrasts with the stillness of the white path, the warm blocks, and the suspended orange sun.

VIA SOLIS, an abstract painting by Maurizio Valch, shown from a low angle beside a grey wall; it features a white path between red, yellow and orange planes beneath a pink sky. — VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch in a floor-level gallery presentation, where the white path and chromatic blocks emphasise the depth of the canvas.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch displayed on a black wall in a museum gallery, surrounded by dark portraits; the painting brings together a white path, red planes, and yellow and orange blocks. — VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch presented in a museum gallery: a white path crosses a territory of reds, yellows and oranges beneath a pink sky.

Visitors view VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch in a museum gallery. The horizontal painting shows a white path between red, ochre, yellow, orange, and green fields. — VIA SOLIS in a museum gallery. The white path opens a direction between warm fields and compact blocks without fixing a destination for the gaze.

VIA SOLIS, an abstract work by Maurizio Valch, installed on a red gallery wall; a white path crosses red, orange, and ochre fields towards yellow and green blocks beneath a pale pink sky. — VIA SOLIS in a gallery installation: the white path separates the warm fields and keeps the distance between the blocks of colour open.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch leaning against a wall in a museum gallery; a white path crosses red, ochre, yellow, and green fields beneath a pink sky. — VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch, presented at floor level. The white path crosses the warm fields and narrows between luminous volumes, bringing the composition’s terrestrial dimension closer.

VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch displayed in a museum gallery: an abstract painting with a white path, yellow and orange blocks, and an orange sun against a pink sky. — VIA SOLIS by Maurizio Valch, presented in a museum gallery; the white path crosses a territory of warm planes and vertical forms.

Published work / MARE SOMNIORUM

VIA SOLIS

A white path between luminous blocks and a distance with no confirmed destination.

Size: 47.2 × 31.5 in / 120 × 80 cm
Series: MARE SOMNIORUM
Orientation: Horizontal
Context studies: 22

Conceptual Note

Light does not necessarily lead to arrival. In VIA SOLIS, Maurizio Valch sets a white path entering from the lower edge and narrowing toward an uncertain distance, between ground in reds and ochres and a succession of luminous volumes. The title directs the eye toward the sun, yet the orange orb suspended at the left does not function as a destination: it remains apart from the route. Within MARE SOMNIORUM, the work condenses a Mediterranean memory without depicting a coastline or locality; instead, it retains the exposure of the land, the low horizon, and the intense clarity that makes distances strange.

The large vertical planes might evoke walls, façades, or formations standing beside the passage. Yet their scale shifts as the path advances, making it impossible to establish a stable geography. A few small incised stairways appear on these surfaces, nearly absorbed by the colour: they introduce the possibility of access without clarifying where one climbs or what might be reached. The green band, compressed between yellows and oranges, disrupts the warm continuity of the volumes and sustains a presence that never quite becomes a recognisable doorway, shadow, or structure.

There is a particular affinity with Richard Diebenkorn’s territorial construction: abstraction retains a memory of passage and landscape through planes that organise depth. Valch departs from Diebenkorn’s more aerial openness by bringing the edges into a more frontal, compact clarity. Distance is not seen from above; it is experienced at the edge of a path that remains open, though its direction offers no conclusion.

The greyish pink of the sky slightly cools the scene’s radiance, while the white of the path both separates and connects the earthly field with the blocks at either side. Dense reds, burnt yellows, and oranges construct a territory with a strong physical presence; the incised lines restore a human, vulnerable scale to its surfaces. VIA SOLIS leaves a simple question suspended: what happens when a direction is visible, but the place it leads to remains outside the painting.