Last Week to See Tracy Emin & Caravaggio Displays in Florence

 

Until July 20: TRACY EMIN: SEX AND SOLITUDE  Palazzo Strozzi. Open Monday to Friday from 9 – 8 pm (Thursday until 11 pm), and weekends from 10 am to 8 pm. Admission: €17 for a regular ticket, and €6 for up to the age 18, with additional concession prices available on the event website.

Curated by Arturo Galansino, offers an intimate exploration of one of the most provocative and influential artists of the 20/21st century. This monographic exhibition traces the raw and unflinching work of Emin, a Turner-Prize shortlisted artist renowned for her confrontations with personal trauma, love, and the body. Featuring 60 works – some of which have never been seen in Italy – from across various mediums, including painting, drawing, sculpture, neon, and video, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through Emin’s career from the 1990s to the present, shedding light on the emotional and physical battles she has fought, including sexual violence, abortion, and cancer.

Emin rose to fame with her work ‘My Bed,’ which was nominated for the 1999 Turner Prize and was sold in 2014 for £2.5 million. It represents the forlorn aftermath of a broken relationship, with her curating a piece of work many can relate to. Today, Emin teaches at the Royal Academy in London.

Until July 20: CARAVAGGIO AND THE 20TH CENTURY. Villa Bardini. Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 7:30 pm.  Admission: €10.

Villa Bardini, offers a captivating journey through the art, life, and legacy of two iconic figures in Italian cultural history, Roberto Longhi and Anna Banti. Curated by Cristina Acidini and Claudio Paolini, this exhibition honours the collaboration between art historian Roberto Longhi and his wife, writer and translator Anna Banti, whose legacy left a mark on the study of Caravaggio and 20th century Italian art.

The centrepiece for the exhibition is Il ragazzo morso da un ramarro (Boy Bitten by a Lizard), an early masterpiece by Caravaggio, painted around 1595. The work, long thought lost, was rediscovered by Longhi in 1928. The exhibition explores the couple’s legacy, including their profound influence on the reappraisal of Caravaggio, whose work had been forgotten about for centuries until Longhi’s rediscovery. Visitors will be able to see over 40 works, including drawings, watercolours, photographs, and archival documents, shedding light on the life and home of Longhi and Banti in Villa II Tasso, just outside Florence, where their vast collection remains today.

This exhibition is a collaboration between Fondazione CR Firenze and Fondazione Longhi, and spans 12 rooms, illustrating the interconnected relationships among major 20th century Italian cultural figures. Documentaries on the artists Carpaccio and Carrà provide additional context, enhancing the exhibition’s narrative. It promises to be an unmissable tribute to two extraordinary intellectuals who shaped the cultural landscape of the last century.