Caravaggio, Boldini, Depero: three major players for Mart's new season

The new exhibition season at the Mart in Rovereto presents three major exhibitions for three major protagonists: Caravaggio, Boldini and Depero. At the center of the investigation is the relationship between ancient and contemporary: classical and modern masters dialogue with each other and with works from the museum’s collection. In search of connections between history, great masterpieces and the languages of the 20th century, the Mart compares distant eras, offering new readings of Italian art and contributing to contemporary education.

Scheduled from October 10 to December 9, 2020, is the long-awaited exhibition Caravaggio. The Contemporary, which will allow visitors to contemplate the Seppellimento di Santa Lucia, Caravaggio’s oldest Sicilian work, from the Church of Santa Lucia alla Badia dia Syracuse. The 17th-century masterpiece will be accompanied by a selection of contemporary works and photographs.

In the walls that can be seen in the background of the painting, which occupy almost two-thirds of the painting without any figures, there is a sense of crumbling form, in which the viewer can recognize an expressive effect close to theInformal. Following these concepts, the exhibition offers a comparison between this masterpiece and a selection of works by the great master of Italian Informal art, Alberto Burri. In a continuous cross-reference between images, symbols and affinities, the exhibition is completed by the large painting I naufraghi (1934) by Cagnaccio di San Pietro, works by artist Nicola Verlato and photographer Massimo Siragusa, and some photographs on the life and death of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Starting November 14, 2020, the protagonist of the Mart will be Boldini, on the occasion of the exhibition Giovanni Boldini Il piacere. On view until Feb. 28, 2021, the extensive exhibition will feature more than 150 works from public and private collections, many of them belonging to the Boldini Museum in Ferrara, which was closed to the public after the 2012 earthquake.

Considered one of the most significant portrait painters of the Belle Époque, Boldini captures the essence of a dazzling environment. In his portraits of intellectuals, noblewomen and actresses, encountered in the society salons of fin de siècle Paris, he relives the charm of a refined and elegant society and a “supreme and irresistible” femininity, as chroniclers of the time wrote. Boldini’s paintings help delineate the style, trends and aesthetic canons of the Ville Lumiè;re.
In the exhibition, Boldini’s production is reconstructed in its entirety through a rich chronological itinerary, which aims to explore certain themes and relationships that marked the painter’s career. In particular, the relationship with the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio will be analyzed, through figures of common inspirational muses such as Marchesa Casati, eccentric and seductive femme fatale.

Finally, an exhibition dedicated to Fortunato Depero is scheduled for December. Since its founding, the Mart has been linked to the legacy of Fortunato Depero, whose works, objects, furniture, drawings, photographs, materials and archival funds the museum preserves. The Mart also manages the artist’s last and most institutional project, which he himself conceived, namely the Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero.

Through the museum’s holdings, the major exhibition Depero mito presente defines his well-rounded figure: an artist who, fascinated by the idea of “total art,” ranged from painting to theater, from set design to applied arts, from publishing to advertising. Innovative, irreverent, and ironic, the celebrated futurist influenced not only the art world, but also styles and models of design, communication, graphics, and fashion from the 1970s to the present.
The exhibition presents the aspects that link the Futurist Avant-Garde to the contemporary world, showing the outcomes of his overwhelming creativity. About two hundred works will be on display, including drawings, documents, inlays, photographs, reconstructions of furniture, costumes, sets, as well as videos and films produced for the exhibition.

Image: Giovanni Boldini, The Lady in Pink (Olivia Concha de Fontecilla) (1916; oil on canvas, 163 x 113 cm; Ferrara, Museo Giovanni Boldini)

Caravaggio, Boldini, Depero: three major players for Mart's new season

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.