Moving to Italy in 1964, Smart saw firsthand in Rome’s infrastructure the legacy of National Fascist Party leader, Benito Mussolini. The leader’s major building program of the 1930s was characterised by architecturally fascist-style buildings and restored ancient Roman monuments. In Outside the ministry Smart hints at this history. A bald man in an overcoat with dark sunglasses—a figure that appears in many of Smart’s paintings—evokes the powerplays of authority and government control. At the top of the stairs is a partially obscured monument in the form of the classical sculpture, visible only from the torso down.
