April 12, 2024

The must-see exhibitions in Florence

All the must-see events

All the must-see art events in Florence:

ANSELM KIEFER AT PALAZZO STROZZI (fino al 21 luglio)

Palazzo Strozzi is ready to host a major exhibition conceived and realized in collaboration with one of the most important artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, Anselm Kiefer. The exhibition allows visitors to engage directly with the German master through a journey showcasing both his historical works and new productions, including a new monumental piece created in dialogue with the Renaissance courtyard. A journey through allegories, figures, and forms that reflect on identity, poetry, historical events, and various philosophical thoughts.

RITORNI. DA MODIGLIANI A MORANDI AT MUSEO NOVECENTO (until 15 september)

The Museo Novecento celebrates its ten-year anniversary since its inauguration in 2014 by hosting "Ritorni: From Modigliani to Morandi" a major exhibition dedicated to the history of one of its most prized collections: the Alberto Della Ragione Collection. Bringing together for the first time around fifteen works by great masters of Italian twentieth-century art. Alongside the legendary Self-Portrait by Modigliani, the exhibition will feature Morandi's Metaphysical Still Life, Carrà's Enchanted Room, and Guttuso's monumental Crucifixion, all invaluable loans of historical and artistic significance from major Italian and foreign museums.

JANNIS KOUNELLIS AT THE MUSEO NOVECENTO (until 9 June)

From March 15 to June 9, the art of Jannis Kounellis returns to Florence with the exhibition La stanza vede. Disegni 1973-1990. Over one hundred works on paper, mostly executed in India ink, pencil, and charcoal between the 1970s and 1980s, and first exhibited in its entirety in 1990, in an exhibition curated by Rudi Fuchs entitled The Room Sees at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in The Hague. That exhibition was an opportunity to verify a different aspect of the poetics of the artist, known as one of the protagonists of Arte Povera, and of his undoubted quality as a great master of drawing, in accordance with the most recurrent inclinations of modern artists from the fifteenth century onward.

MIMMO JODICE. TIMELESS AT VILLA BARDINI (until July 14)

The timeless photographic works of Neapolitan master Mimmo Jodice are on display for the first time in Florence at Villa Bardini. On display are 80 works, created between 1964 and 2011, tracing the most important themes of Mimmo Jodice's artistic work, divided into the sections Anamnesis, Languages, Views of Naples, City, Nature, Seas. In Florence, the exhibition is enriched with a new section devoted to images of Michelangelo Buonarroti's Florentine works, which come out of the great photographer's archives after 30 years. A documentary on the artist's life, made by director and author Mario Martone, his friend and fellow citizen, then accompanies the exhibition. A search for emptiness in response to his inability to accept chaos and madness where, in excluding all noise, he finds a new personal and metaphysical dimension.

DANIEL BUREN AT VILLA SAN MICHELE (until 30 September)

Inspired by Villa San Michele, a Renaissance masterpiece and former 15th-century monastery in the hills of Fiesole overlooking Florence, Daniel Buren imagined Sosta colorata, per Villa San Michele, lavoro in situ, 2024. The glass ceiling of the hotel bar, previously a small cloister, becomes Buren's canvas, transforming an area at the heart of the structure into a destination in its own right. Here, travellers can stop and experience the architecture in a new light as the space is enveloped in coloured reflections as the sun passes through. This work links up with Leandro Erlich's Window & Ladder and The Cloud, which have been part of the hotel's permanent collection since the first edition of MITICO in 2022. The installation can be admired by guests and visitors until 30 September 2024.

ANDRÉ AT THE MUSEO NOVECENTO AND AT THE MUSEO BARDINI (until 9 June)

The Museo Novecento is hosting a major exhibition project dedicated to the German artist André Butzer, curated by Sergio Risaliti, Liebe, Glaube und Hoffnung at the Museo Novecento from 1 March to 9 June and "... und der Tod ist auch ein Leben. (...and death is also a life), at the Museo Stefano Bardini from 22 March to 9 June. The exhibition, in its twofold articulation, provides an in-depth look at the entire artistic parabola of André Butzer, whose practice began with an original blend of European expressionism and American popular culture.

DIVINA SIMULACRA AT UFFIZI (until 30 June)

The Uffizi's most beautiful ancient statues are exhibited in the ground-floor rooms of the Vasari Museum: in these spacious rooms visitors can see and admire them up close, in all their beauty. Among them was the Medici Venus, destined to become the icon and symbol of the Florentine museum for the next two centuries. For a short time, some of the Uffizi's most famous classical works are placed outside their historical locations: the aim of Divina Simulacra is to restore to full public enjoyment masterpieces that in some cases are difficult to appreciate up close in their most evocative details, and to propose juxtapositions between the different sculptures that would be impossible to achieve in the context of the ordinary exhibition.

L'INCANTO DI ORFEO AT PALAZZO MEDICI RICCARDI (until 8 September)

Entitled L'incanto di Orfeo (The Enchantment of Orpheus), curated by Sergio Risaliti and Valentina Zucchi, this major exhibition at Palazzo Medici Riccardi will host 80 works of art dedicated to the key figure of Greek mythology, ranging from antiquity to some previously unseen works by great contemporary artists. Works by Titian and Rembrandt, De Chirico and Feuerbach can be admired among the works on display, which come from prestigious Italian and international cultural institutions. Starting with the emblematic presence of Baccio Bandinelli's statue of Orpheus in the main courtyard of Palazzo Medici Riccardi and the resonance of the myth in Renaissance, modern and contemporary civilisation, the exhibition project is dedicated to the centuries-old relationship between art, music, poetry and philosophy. The figurative works will be juxtaposed with codices and original printed volumes of classical and modern texts, as well as works in music inspired by the myth of Orpheus.

DRUID AL GALLERY HOTEL ART (fino al 6 ottobre)

The spaces of Gallery Hotel Art host artist Emanuele Napolitano, aka Druid, with his first solo exhibition in Florence entitled And still they don't believe it, curated by Valentina Ciarallo. For the spaces of Gallery Hotel Art, Druid presents an entirely original project, composed of a large number of new works, such as the series of paintings dedicated to the twelve signs of the zodiac. A horoscope in images where symbols and faces are reflected in an evocative dualism of colors and silhouettes. Each painting is accompanied by the prediction about individual destiny, expressly formulated by the artist.

GUCCI VISIONS (until 30 May)

The new exhibition recounts the 102-year history of the Maison, in a tribute to the emblematic models, iconic elements and the talent of the Creative Directors and master craftsmen who have created them over the years. To open the itinerary, an illustrated chronology reveals itself to visitors as they walk down the various flights of stairs, tracing the history of the Maison through dates, events and key figures. Eight themed rooms are set up on the first and second floors of the building, which can be visited in any order, and each presents a particular aspect of the Maison's extraordinary history.