View Of Central Rome
Roman holidays don't have to be in summer. December and January, when sunny Rome can be sometimes grey and rainy, are packed of events. Especially a lot of beautiful exhibitions, with this common characteristic: they are always held in fabulous palaces.
You can start with Picasso that waits for you in two different locations, not very distant one from the other, the Quirinal Mews and the Barberini Palace.
Exactly one century after his Italian tour, in 1917, where he met Serge de Diaghilev (les Ballets Russes) and the ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova that became his wife, Picasso is back in Rome with more than a hundred paintings, drawings, watercolors, stage costumes etc… from museums and private collections exposed under the title: “Picasso tra cubismo e classicismo 1915-1925“ (1) in “Le Scuderie del Quirinale” (The Quirinal Mews). Just in front of the residence of the President of the Italian Republic, on the magic Piazza del Quirinale (especially in the evening that, in this season, starts very early).
The most extraordinary moment is, at the end of your visit, when your eyes, still filled with the Picasso’s colours and shapes, will discover an incredible view on roman churches cupolas, through the glass stairs that to the Scuderies exit. Unforgettable!
You can start with Picasso that waits for you in two different locations, not very distant one from the other, the Quirinal Mews and the Barberini Palace.
Exactly one century after his Italian tour, in 1917, where he met Serge de Diaghilev (les Ballets Russes) and the ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova that became his wife, Picasso is back in Rome with more than a hundred paintings, drawings, watercolors, stage costumes etc… from museums and private collections exposed under the title: “Picasso tra cubismo e classicismo 1915-1925“ (1) in “Le Scuderie del Quirinale” (The Quirinal Mews). Just in front of the residence of the President of the Italian Republic, on the magic Piazza del Quirinale (especially in the evening that, in this season, starts very early).
The most extraordinary moment is, at the end of your visit, when your eyes, still filled with the Picasso’s colours and shapes, will discover an incredible view on roman churches cupolas, through the glass stairs that to the Scuderies exit. Unforgettable!
View From Piazza Del Quirinale
Deux femmes courant sur la plage (La course). Pablo Picasso - 1922
Arlequin Et Femme Au Collier. Pablo Picasso - 1917
You can take follow Via Del Quirinale, just on your right and walk for a few minutes, between the Quirinale gardens and some Bernini's and Borromini's masterpieces (the churches of Saint Andrew and Saint Charles) that impressed so much Picasso 100 years ago, to get to another splendid place: the Barberini Palace. There, you’ll discover a particularly precious Picasso that is very difficult to expose because of his huge measures (16,5 m – 10, 5 m): the painted curtain for the ballet “Parade” (Cocteau, Satie, Massine- Les Ballets Russes) that marks, with his winged horses, street performers, and even the Vesuvius that he saw in Naples, the end of the Picasso’s cubist period and his return to the figuration. (2)
Olga Kokhlova, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau. Italy, 1917
Theatre Curtain for Parade. Pablo Picasso -1917
In that same Palazzo Barberini, there is another exhibition that celebrates a centenary: the one of the rediscovery of “Our Lady of Tarquinia” painted in 1437 by a very young Filippo Lippi. The beautiful Madonna is surrounded by a few other paintings of that time (Masaccio, Donatello… ) with the title “Altro Rinascimento. Il giovane Filippo Lippi e la Madonna di Tarquinia”. (3)
Palazzo Barberini
 Our Lady of Tarquinia. Filippo Lippi - 1437 |  Polittico di Pisa: San Paolo. Masaccio - 1426 |
But this is not all. There is another extraordinary exhibition in the Barberini Palace: “Arcimboldo”. This most bizarre and esoteric painter of the Habsburg court, in Prague at that time, with his portraits made with fruits flowers and animals was, already in the 16th century, a sort of forerunner of surrealism and even of the contemporary art. But with much more imagination! (4)
La Primavera - Arcimboldo 1555
L'Estate. Arcimboldo 1555
And if after all these exhibitions filled with very strong emotions you need more calm and beauty you have to finish your roman exhibition’s tour at the Vittoriano (via San Pietro in Carcere, just beside Piazza Venezia). There you will find sixty works of Claude Monet, the marvelous father of Impressionism, loaned by the Musée Marmottan Monet (Paris). (5).
- Until the 21 January 2018
- 21 January 2018
- 18 February 2018
- 11 February 2018
- 28 January 2018
Le Pont Japonais. Claude Monet - 1899
Impression, soleil levant. Claude Monet - 1872
