The Un Anno ad Arte 2015 exhibitions

In Florence a packed schedule of exhibitions of research and in-depth studies

Un anno ad arte, the 2015 art exhibition program of Florence’s State museums under the supervision of the Florentine State Museums Office, is in its tenth year, which might be the last one before the new regulations, granting more autonomy to state-run museums, come into force. Nonetheless, the city’s museums involved in the initiative present a rich program of exhibitions and events in the year of the Milano Expo.
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of its foundation, the Bargello Museum showcases, with the cooperation of other major European museums, the medieval civilization in its highest expressions, with objects of everyday use and rare works of art revolving around the theme of travelling in the real and imaginary world: The Middle Ages on the move (March 20-June 21, 2015).
Inspired by the Middle Ages is also the first exhibition of the year at the Accademia Gallery, The Art of Francesco. Masterworks of Asian Art from the 13th to the 15th centuries (March 30- October 11), which explores the origin and evolution of one of the greatest religious and cultural phenomena in the history of the Western and Eastern world: Franciscanism, which spread rapidly throughout the world, reaching China.
Four monographic exhibitions span from the Renaissance to the Baroque period, showcasing both permanents collections and works of art on loan. Each exhibition aims to draw audiences to a lesser-known artist, based on studies conducted by the greatest experts in the field: Piero di Cosimo, Carlo Portelli, Gherardo delle Notti and Carlo Dolci. Piero di Cosimo, a brilliant and bizarre Florentine painter who straddled two centuries, the 15th and 16th, will be the “star” of the exhibit held at the Uffizi Gallery: Piero di Cosimo (1462-1522): “eccentric” Florentine painter between Renaissance and Mannerism (June 22- September 27, 2015,) .

Carlo Portelli, another eccentric Florentine artist of the Mannerism period, extremely talented but relatively unknown, will be on show at the Accademia Gallery from December 14 to April 17. Gerrit Honthorst was born in Utrecht, but he worked in Italy in the early 1600s, even for the Medici family, whose art collection includes four big paintings by the Dutch artist. In addition to Gerrit, famous for his skill at painting scenes illuminated by a single candle and to which he owes his nickname, Gherardo delle Notti, works by other Dutch painters, known for their use of the chiaroscuro technique, will be showcased at the Uffizi Gallery from February 10 to May 24, 2015.
Carlo Dolci, on show at the Palatina Gallery, offers us a rare glimpse into the artistic ( and also religious) life of the Medici ducal court in the 1600s, which was under the control of Grand Duchess Vittoria Della Rovere. A stone, which has been used by the most important artists of the Renaissance and Baroque period, lapis lazuli, is the central theme of the exhibition held at the Silver Museum. Imported from Asia since the Middle Ages, the stone was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments, and used by artists to paint visions of heaven and the divinities’ clothing, besides being made into wonderful and precious decorating objects.
The Modern Art Gallery, founded in 1914, celebrates the 150th anniversary of Florence as Capital of Italy with an exhibition devoted to the works of art and valuable furnishings that King Vittorio Emanuele II purchased for the sumptuous and maze-like Florentine palace, Palazzo Pitti, where he stayed during his sojourns in Florence. The Florentine museums’ 2015 art exhibition program does not end here. It includes many more events and exhibits held in other museums, Medicean villas and cenacles revolving around the global food theme of Expo Milano 2015, Feeding the Planet, and featuring a wide range of paintings and objects, from rural landscapes to the tables of aristocrats and commoners.