Uncommon museums of Florence #2: Stefano Bardini Museum

Uncommon museums of Florence #2: Stefano Bardini Museum

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Stefano Bardini (1854-1922) was a prominent Italian antiquary who decided to transform his collection into a museum and donate it to the city of Florence. The building, a magnificent palace eclectic in style, where the museum has its headquarters, was acquired and restored by Bardini in 1881, in order to be used for his antiquarian trade activity. The antiquary modified the structure adding new gates and stairs, used medieval and Renaissance stones, chimneys, in addition, he affixed painted coffered ceilings. Bardini transformed the old building — the former church and convent of San Gregorio della Pace — into a wonderful neo-Renaissance villa, where, besides the exhibition halls, there were workshops so that the pieces were restored before selling them.

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History of art according to Florence or the Renaissance chapter at high school

History of art according to Florence or the Renaissance chapter at high school

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History of art was, without a doubt, my favourite subject at high school. By then, Italy was for me a distant and unknown country, it seemed so far as on another planet, and I did not even know what Tuscany meant or where in the map Florence was. At the age of 17, everything seemed so phantasmagorical and unreal … How unusual, the unpredictable ways to which life sometimes leads. Especially to those who try to escape from routine.

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‘OBEY. MAKE ART NOT WAR,’ exhibition at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence

‘OBEY. MAKE ART NOT WAR,’ exhibition at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence

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On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the start of his career as a street artist, Shepard Fairey, also known as OBEY, presents at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence the exhibition ‘OBEY. MAKE ART NOT WAR.’ The show is a visual journey at the crossroads between four themes — Woman, Environment, Peace, Culture — recreating in the museum the ideal night-time stroll through the city. The large artworks and the small silk-screen prints are organic parts of the same family, an urban conversation between militant messages. OBEY encourages reflections on humanitarian themes, existential transitions, social utopias and values above the law. His pacifist and environmental message transforms us into little ‘soldiers’ of a new kind of activism.…

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Natalia Goncharova retrospective at Palazzo Strozzi

Natalia Goncharova retrospective at Palazzo Strozzi

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Palazzo Strozzi celebrates Natalia Goncharova, a leading female artist of the 20th century, in a major retrospective. The exhibition explores her unconventional life and career, presenting her rich and multifaceted artistic output with masterpieces from significant international collections by renowned artists including Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, Balla and Boccioni.

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Isadora Duncan awaits you in Florence

Isadora Duncan awaits you in Florence

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Over 175 pieces dedicated to Isadora Duncan will be exhibited until September 22 in the charming Villa Bardini and the Stefano Bardini Museum in Florence. Paintings, sculptures and documents including unpublished photographs that trace the link of the founder of modern dance with Italy and the influence she had in the international context. Rebellious to every convention and with a strong charisma, Isadora Duncan distinguished herself for her dancing free from social conditioning.…

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«The Cleaner:» Marina Abramović at Palazzo Strozzi

«The Cleaner:» Marina Abramović at Palazzo Strozzi

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Florence is alive and wants to express itself. Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi presents a retrospective of world-wide acclaimed performance artist Marina Abramović. The show opens its doors on September 21, the same day that L’Eredità delle Donne festival begins. During four months, till January 20, 2019, Florence and particularly the Palazzo Strozzi hosts an exhibition that pays tribute to the fifty-year career of one of the heavyweights of Action Art. She is the first woman that has a “solo exhibition” at the Palazzo Strozzi.…

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“BANKSY – This is not a photo opportunity,» Banksy at Palazzo Medici Riccardi

“BANKSY – This is not a photo opportunity,» Banksy at Palazzo Medici Riccardi

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There is no doubt that if Banksy had lived during the Renaissance in Florence, the Medici would have been his patrons — they were the Maecenas of most of the art produced in Florence at that time. Any case, supposedly, Banksy artworks do not belong to anyone, but to the cities public space where he intervenes. However, the system devours everything, yet the supposed «anti-system» expressions as the graffiti made by Banksy. A proof of this is the exhibition organized at Palazzo Medici Riccardi, opened until February 24, 2019. Curated by Gianluca Marziani and Stefano S. Antonelli, the show brings together twenty images of Banksy’s most iconic pieces, those that won world fame due to its thematic: capitalism, war, surveillance, or massive migratory movements.…

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