Alighiero Boetti

I sei sensi (The Six Senses)

(c. 1974-75)

Ballpoint pen on six pieces of paper

Not on view

Italian artist Alighiero e Boetti's work explores the order and disorder of communication systems. This work is part of his series of monumental ballpoint pen drawings, for which he invented a code. Reading the commas from left to right in relation to the vertical alphabet at the far left, one can decipher words for the five senses in Italian: vedere (to see), udire (to hear), odorare (to smell), gustare (to taste), toccare (to touch), and a sixth added by Boetti, pensare (to think).

Gallery label from

Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, April 22, 2009–January 4, 2010.

Medium Ballpoint pen on six pieces of paper
Dimensions Each: 39 1/2 x 28" (100.3 x 71.1 cm) Installation: 39 1/2 x 168" (100.3 x 426.7 cm)
Credit The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift
Object number 1331.2005.a-f
Department Drawings and Prints

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