LIGHT MODE
DARK MODE
If the name Gherardo delle Notti doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry about it. This Utrecht-born, 17th-century artist is the subject of the first ever monographic exhibit at the Uffizi as part of the Florentine state galleries’ commitment to presenting lesser-known artists
The small, edicola-sized interior of BASE Progetti per l’Arte in via San Niccolò provides unexpected proof that ‘precious things come in small packages’. In spite of its tiny setting—or, maybe, because of it—this non-profit-making exhibition space is probably
The final portion of the ongoing Authenticity: Beloved Places: A 50-Year Journey in Florence and Its Surroundings exhibition series explores Florence's future through the lens of its past. Titled Firenze: Per il Futuro di Una Difficile Eredita, the exhibition was designed and organized by engineer, architect and architectural
Fresh on the heels of this winter’s Pitti Immagine, another chic, style-centric showcase has arrived in town: the exhibition Aldo Fallai: From Giorgio Armani to the Renaissance at Villa Bardini and the Stefano Bardini museum. Fallai is best known for his collaborations with fashion designer Armani. Running
The Alinari National Museum of Photography has just opened Robert Capa in Italia 1943-1944, a poignant exhibition of work by this Hungarian photojournalist renowned for his images of war. Capa had a prolific career, working in 23 countries and chronicling 5 major wars.
When evening has come, I return to my house and go into my study. At the door I take off my clothes of the day, covered with mud and mire, and I put on my regal and courtly garments; and decently reclothed, I enter the ancient courts of
Before being installed in the Vasari Corridor, a recent addition to the Uffizi’s unrivalled collection of artists’ self-portraits is about to go on view at San Pier Scheraggio, the former church enclosed within Palazzo Vecchio. The subject of the work is American video artist Bill Viola,
Although Florence is a cultural capital with few equals on the planet, its immense historical legacy has tended to overshadow the place that contemporary art occupies in the city. Yet as recently as the 1960s and 70s, Florence was acknowledged as an avant-garde centre for visual arts and architecture
I first encountered Lolita Valderrama Savage through a painting in the dining room of an art collector whose assemblage included Matisses and Picassos. I was both surprised and pleased to discover that the artist was Filipina. After my first encounter with Valderrama Savage’s painting, I was fortunate to
Italy is confronting the impact of migration. Although less than 9 percent of its population was born outside the country (below the average for European Union member states), immigration has risen dramatically since 2001 and poses questions about national borders as populations move in search of prosperity and security. The
There was a raging Twitter debate recently about the magnetizing force of the Impressionists: can there be too much of a good thing? Does the world really need another Impressionists exhibition? Though an affirmative case for both could certainly be made, it seems that the collective interest in the most
Palazzo Strozzi’s exhibition The Russian Avant-garde: Siberia and the East, which opened on September 27, successfully shows the synthesis of the indigenous and the exotic, examining all the elements that went into the works of Russian modernists while simultaneously highlighting the shamanistic roots that are unique to
A small exhibit at Villa Bardini, Il Rinascimento da Firenze a Parigi: Andata e ritorno, is worth the hike up Costa San Giorgio. Thirty works that now form the Italian nucleus of the Jacquemart-André museum in Paris were sold to Nélie Jacquemart at the end of
Prato is currently celebrating its illustrious artistic history through an extensive exhibit, From Donatello to Lippi: Officina Pratese, uniting spaces around the city in a modern museum collaboration that parallels the artistic contamination between Renaissance workshops. Paintings, sculpture, textiles and documents tell the story of a city that was central,
The newly opened exhibit at Villa Bardini brings 30 works that were sold by the antiquarian Stefano Bardini in the 19th century back from the Paris museum that now houses them, offering an opportunity to see Renaissance paintings that don't travel often. It's set up in the idyllic
In the late 19th century, part of the orientalising trend that overtook much of Europe was a ‘discovery’ of all things related to India. Through two expeditions led by figures connected to the current University of Florence (then called the Istituto di Studi Superiori di Firenze), the city
Did you know that wine from Montalcino (the name Brunello was invented much later) was first served at Buckingham Palace in 1696? And that it boasts many firsts in Italy, including the first Italian wine scandal? Perhaps, like most people, you don’t. Which is why it is worth
An early morning visit to the exhibit The Renaissance Dream at the Palatine Gallery is like returning to a suspended state of sleep for an hour or so. It is truly a joy to experience such a cohesive grouping of works that offer close visual comparisons and suggest literary references.
Beauty is a concept not immediately associated with visual art in the modern era. Although some artists pioneered the sublime detachment of abstraction, others appeared more concerned with the turmoil, grittiness and uncertainty of existence. Indeed, many practitioners may even have regarded the pursuit of beauty as irrelevant, even irresponsible.
Forty years ago this month, I set out from London as a teenager on my ‘grand tour’ that was to take me from art history studies at the British Institute in Florence to an archaeological dig in Herculaneum, via Magic Bus to Marrakesh and the Orient Express to
In the late 1960s, the modern blockbuster art exhibition arrived and changed the museum landscape. Pioneered by such major institutions as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, these ambitious shows combined the art-world equivalents of Cinemascope, Technicolor, surround sound with a touch of Barnum and Bailey promotion.
Palazzo Strozzi’s lastest exhibit, Springtime of the Renaissance, takes on a double challenge: explaining the roots of the Renaissance, topic of extensive historiography, and convincing the crowds to go see a show about sculpture. Sculpture is generally less sexy and less of a crowd-pleaser than painting.
There is no doubting Salvador Dalí’s popularity. His work continues to please, shock and titillate, generating food for thought and queues at the ticket office. The arrival of The Dalí ...
An exhibition of contemporary works at Villa Romana, located on the edge of the city, a mile and several centuries from the Pitti Palace, marks the arrival in Tuscany of four new foreign artists. Villa Romana—Winners 2013 is a collection assembled by this year’s fellows,
