Rome – Wonderful scenery, shame about the art?

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The current art season in Rome is ending with few lights and many shadows, says Sergio Sagnotti

The season opened with a very interesting exhibition called ‘Vermeer, the Golden Age of Dutch Art’ in Scuderie del Quirinale. The suggestive location of the Quirinale greatly helps any exhibition or event. The Quirinale has at different times been home to 30 popes, four kings and 11 presidents of Italy. The art event was characterized by eight Vermeer paintings (the most well known being The Girl with the Red Hat) accompanied by another 50 Flemish artists of the Dutch ‘Golden Age’, including de Hooch, Metsu and Van der Weyden. The exhibition well curated and organized.

One could not say the same for the 8th edition of the antiques ‘Biennale’ in Palazzo Venezia; it was a very normal edition and nothing special characterized it. I had the impression that this event gave more space to the market and therefore to art likely to sell well, and less space to art of real quality and variety.

Noteworthy other exhibitions this summer include ‘Guttuso, 1912–2012’, on the work of painter Renato Guttuso (1911–87), ‘Tiziano’ (Titian), ‘Sulla via della seta’ (‘On the Silk Road’ , an exhibition on the route from China to Europe in the Middle Ages)  and ‘Robert Doisneau. Paris en liberté’, showing the work of the great French photographer.

With some pain, I have to mention the less successful events. One of the real disappointments of this art season was the exhibition, just ended, titled ‘Cubism. Cubist. Picasso, Braque, Leger’. It was quite a poor exhibition. When people, art experts or not, come to see work made by artists such as Picasso or Braque, the expectation is ever high and maybe for this reason the disappointment would be greater. Paying a very high ticket price to see only three or four interesting paintings, such as The Procession of Seville (Francis Picabia), The Spanish Dancer (Natalia Gontcharova), Nude (Pablo Picasso) or The Portrait of Dostoevskij (Frantisek Foltyn) is not very satisfactory. The exhibition was then completed by a few copies of theatrical costumes and pieces of theatre sets, which gave the impression that these were put in place to fill out a poor exhibition.

Many visitors had the same feeling about others exhibitions, such as ‘Brueghel. Wonders of Flemish Art’ and ‘Salvador Dalì: An Artist, a Genius’. Many visitors showed their disappointment about the fact that in an exhibition dedicated to Brueghel, there was only one work by the Dutch master himself (The Resurrection of Christ). Admittedly, the place where the latter exhibition was held (Chiostro del Bramante) was wonderful and possibly some visitors would have been satisfied to have paid the ticket price just to see this location. Dalì’s exhibition was similarly disappointing but I have to add that perhaps expectations for this were greater because we still recall the wonderful exhibition of four years ago, curated by Arturo Schwarz: ‘Dada and Surrealism’.

This art season will end with two interesting exhibitions that we hope will redeem the subdued season in the Italian capital city. Until 15 September, it will be possible to visit the exhibition ‘Costantino 313 d.C.’. Designed and conceived by the Diocesan Museum of Milan, the exhibition has come in Rome with a special section dedicated to Rome and it’s located in the Colosseum. The exhibition celebrates the anniversary of the Edict of Milan (313 AD) whereby the rulers of Rome granted religious tolerance to Christians. The exhibits comprise more than 160 archaeological finds from all parts of Europe. It’s a very interesting show that explores the figures of the family of Constantine and all the twists, betrayals and struggles that occurred in the period.

Another interesting exhibition is ‘Post-Classici: The Revival of Antiquity in Contemporary  Italian Art’. This is open until 29 September and perhaps the location (the Roman forum and Palatine) will make the exhibition even more special. The purpose of this event is to highlight the link between contemporary art and classical art. Through the works of 17 artists including Jannis Kounellis (b.1936);  Giulio Paolini (b.1940); the artists’ collective, ‘ZimmerFrei’; and Francesco Barocco (b. 1972),  visitors can appreciate how absolute values such as harmony, size, beauty and perfection are still valued by contemporary artists.

Rome is a very important city for art, one of the most important in the world but perhaps, in this art season, the most beautiful exhibition here  is the open air museums made by its numerous monuments located throughout the city. These monuments are free and visible to all without paying the expensive ticket prices of the museums in the Roman palaces…