Rome, Baruchello's possible worlds on display at Villa Farnesina for the centenary of his birth

From January 25 to May 3, 2025, the Villa Farnesina in Rome will host the exhibition Gianfranco Baruchello. Possible Worlds, promoted by theAccademia Nazionale dei Lincei and the Baruchello Foundation, curated by Carla Subrizi. The event was preceded by the International Conference of Studies on Baruchello’s work, which was held Jan. 23 and 24 at the Academy. Both initiatives are part of the celebrations of the centenary of the artist’s birth (Livorno, 1924 - Rome, 2023).

The exhibition unfolds in a path between the indoor and outdoor spaces of the Villa, putting Baruchello’s works in dialogue with history, iconography and imagery belonging to different eras. Art and history open to a confrontation not only between past and present, but also between inspiration and creation, possibility and the unreal. “Possible worlds take shape when time stops following a linear logic: sequences are interrupted, the past surprises us, and the present manifests itself as a foray into the already been,” said curator Carla Subrizi, president of the Baruchello Foundation. “The works create novel dialogues between past and present, ancient and contemporary, exploring histories and memories that generate new short-circuits, a central concept in Baruchello’s research.”

The exhibition addresses recurring themes in the artist’s work-history, the unconscious, dreams and the environment-all of which are also present in the fresco cycles of the Villa Farnesina. Eight large works, made with different techniques and media, including painting, installations and moving images.

In the exhibition The River (1982-1983), a gigantic 15-meter-long work, finds unexpected parallels with Raphael’s nymph Galatea. If the Renaissance painter, inspired by Ovid, celebrates the myth, Baruchello self-portrays the stream of water struggling to flow, hampered by environmental, social and personal imbalances. Other works in the exhibition also dialogue with the Villa Farnesina’s environments: The House in Iron Wire (1975), in the Frieze Room, evokes nomadic and fragile homes; Monument to the Unheroes (1962), placed in the Wedding Room of Alexander the Great and Roxane, celebrates history’s forgotten; Ideal Relief (1965), in Room 5, reflects on cartography through a “sensitive” geography; Oh, Rocky Mountains Columbine (1966), in the Pompeian Room, encapsulates the temporal and spatial complexity of the Farnesina in a reduced size; History Looks Back at Us (1972-2018), in Room 4, gazes from history that continue to watch and question us; Murmur (2015), in the Lodge of Cupid and Psyche, explores memory and the unconscious with openable objects; Giftpflanzen, Gefahr!(Poisonous plants, danger!) (2009), in the historic gardens, presents a garden of beautiful but insidious plants.

The exhibition is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays. Guided tours Saturday and Sunday for groups (max 25 people) at 11 a.m. (Italian), 12 p.m. (English), 4 p.m. (Italian); reservations required at 06 680 272 68 or farnesina@lincei.it

For info: www.villafarnesina.it

Photos set up by Alessia Calzecchi.

Rome, Baruchello's possible worlds on display at Villa Farnesina for the centenary of his birth

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