Michelangelo Pistoletto replaces Caravaggio in the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo

Michelangelo Pistoletto replaces Caravaggio. It is happening in Palermo, for the 15th edition of Next, a project conceived to commemorate the theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity with Saints Lawrence and Francis of Assisi, a masterpiece by the Lombard artist that was in the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo before it was stolen in 1969(here is the full story of the work). The event, conceived in 2010 by Bernardo Tortorici of Raffadali, thus brings to Sicily this year the exponent of Arte Povera, who was called upon to create a new interpretation of the Nativity to commemorate the masterpiece stolen in 1969 from the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, an event that left an indelible mark in the history of world cultural heritage. The work was unveiled on Dec. 24, 2024 at midnight and will remain on display until Oct. 17, 2025: it will remain on the altar of the Oratory of San Lorenzo until Jan. 8, 2025, after which it will be tr.asferred to the anti-oratory.

“We are extremely grateful to Maestro Michelangelo Pistoletto, who wanted to create a Nativity of his for the Oratory of St. Lawrence in memory of the Caravaggio Nativity stolen in 1969 and never found,” says Bernardo Tortorici of Raffadali. “It is an ’action of ethical reparation that the different artists, over the past 15 years, have wanted to donate to the oratory by joining the Next project. The participation of a figure of the greatness of Michelangelo Pistoletto comforts us, on the one hand, in recognizing that the theft was not only a crime against the oratory and Palermo, but an attack on art history itself. On the other, it helps to ease the pain of the wound suffered through a new creation that is not only a work of art, but also a powerful gesture of human solidarity.”

A mirrored work

Pistoletto’s new Nativity exploits the original dimensions of Caravaggio’s painting (268x197 cm) and uses one of the artist’s most recognizable languages: mirror paintings, the reflective surface, a distinctive element of his poetics. Pistoletto thus replaces Caravaggio with a mirror. And as often happens in his mirrors, there is a character, which in this case is Caravaggio’s angel, who instead of his scroll holds the symbol of the Third Paradise, the configuration of the mathematical sign of infinity conceived by Pistoletto to represent the harmony between nature and artifice.

Michelangelo Pistoletto says, “Keeping a part of the ancient painting, the Angel descending from heaven carries the Annunciation of the Third Paradise as a symbol of a possible balance between nature and artifice. This vision invites collective responsibility, transforming conflict into a new horizon of civilization, where creation prevails over destruction.”

The Next Initiative

The Next initiative was created to transform the pain of loss into a form of artistic and cultural resilience. Through the creation of new works that reinterpret the Nativity, the project aims to keep the memory of the lost painting alive while celebrating art as a tool for rebirth.

Over the years, artists such as Francesco De Grandi, Francesco Simeti, Emilio Isgrò and Vanessa Beecroft have offered their visions of the Nativity: the main goal is to exorcise one of the deepest wounds suffered by the world’s cultural heritage, while stimulating a collective reflection on art’s ability to heal and regenerate. Indeed, the theft of the Nativity with Saints Lawrence and Francis of Assisi on the night of Oct. 17-18, 1969, is considered one of the greatest crimes against art. The work, created in 1600-1601 in Rome and then sent to Palermo, ranks second in the FBI’s Top Ten Art Crimes.

Michelangelo Pistoletto replaces Caravaggio in the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo

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