Dissected Splendor: Nunzio Paci’s Visionary Anatomy Paintings

Nunzio Paci, Forgetting the Scent - man with internal organs exposed with flowers growing from shoulders - detail

Nunzio Paci is an Italian artist who paints aged human bodies caught between evisceration and rebirth. He is interested in mutation and our relationship with nature. Recalling the anatomy illustrations of the Italian Renaissance, Paci reinvests an age-old admiration of the body’s structures with a figurative exploration of mortality and the spirit; as veins and muscles sprout into roots and branches, the melancholic subjects embody the perpetuity of life. Featured here are five of Paci’s newer works, which are part of a cycle dedicated to the Baroque masters.

Nunzio Paci, A Place to Rest - bird rest on man's shoulder, his ribs exposed

Nunzio Paci, The Last Pulse - man opened up holding heart

Nunzio - Suspended Between Soil and Mud - man holding onto veins that turn into trees

Nunzio Paci, Forgetting the Scent - man with flowers on shoulders

Nunzio Paci, The Slow Sprouting of the Flesh - man with internal organs exposed with flowers growing from shoulders

Images © Nunzio Paci