From 23 June to 20 September 2026<\/b>, Galleria Borghese\u00a0will host\u00a0Metamorphoses. Ovid and the Arts<\/i><\/b>, a major exhibition project developed in collaboration with the\u00a0Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam<\/b>.\u00a0Curated by Francesca Cappelletti\u00a0and Frits Scholten<\/b>, the exhibition was conceived through a\u00a0shared scholarly dialogue\u00a0<\/b>between the two institutions. Following its Dutch presentation, which will close on 25 May, the project will travel to Rome in June, where it will be presented in an autonomous and original configuration.<\/p>\n
Taking\u00a0Ovid\u2019s\u00a0Metamorphoses<\/i><\/b>\u00a0– one of the foundational and most enduring texts of the Western imagination – as its point of departure, the project explores the theme of\u00a0transformation as a universal principle<\/b>\u00a0and as a\u00a0key to interpreting the cosmos<\/b>, matter, and the human condition. Ovid\u2019s poem thus becomes the gateway to a worldview grounded in change, in the instability of forms, and in the\u00a0permeability of boundaries between the human, the natural, and the divine<\/b>.<\/p>\n
The spaces of Galleria Borghese constitute\u00a0a particularly privileged context for the development of this exhibition project<\/b>. The very foundation of the villa\u00a0fuori Porta Pinciana<\/i>\u00a0is rooted in the symbolic universe of the Metamorphoses, making this site not only suitable but intrinsically connected to the theme of the exhibition.\u00a0Cardinal Scipione Borghese<\/b>\u00a0commissioned the construction of the\u00a0Casino nobile<\/i>\u00a0to house part of his collection, conceiving\u00a0the architecture as a cultural device capable of weaving together myth, art, and self-representation\u00a0<\/b>within a coherent system of meanings.<\/p>\n
This vocation was further reinforced in the eighteenth century through the restorations commissioned by Marcantonio IV Borghese and entrusted to Antonio Asprucci, who reorganised the interiors\u00a0by placing sculptures at the centre of the rooms<\/b>\u00a0and integrating them within a decorative programme inspired by the Metamorphoses, thereby shaping a context in which\u00a0the presence of Ovid becomes structural and pervasive.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>The core of the exhibition will therefore be the concept of\u00a0metamorphosis as a generative principle<\/b>\u00a0capable of traversing and redefining the cosmos, matter, and the body. Through renowned myths and often tragic narratives, the Metamorphoses have for centuries provided artists with an\u00a0inexhaustible repertoire of images and conflicts<\/b>, giving visual form to passions, desires, cunning, violence, deception, and possibilities of redemption.<\/p>\n
The exhibition itinerary will present a vision of the world in which gods, humans, and nature share a common destiny of continuous transformation. Alongside Ovidian themes such as Love, the Afterlife, and the creation of the world, the exhibition will also explore the phenomenon of the\u00a0Ovide moralis\u00e9<\/i><\/b>, the medieval rewriting of the work that profoundly influenced the representation of myth in the Renaissance.<\/p>\n
From the great masters of the Renaissance and the Baroque to artists of more recent periods – including\u00a0Correggio, Michelangelo, Titian, Rubens,\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Poussin,\u00a0<\/b>through to\u00a0G\u00e9r\u00f4me, Rodin, and Brancusi<\/b>\u00a0– the exhibition will highlight\u00a0the visual and conceptual power of Ovid\u2019s narratives<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Centered around\u00a0Gian Lorenzo Bernini<\/b>\u2019s Apollo and Daphne and Pluto and Proserpina, as well as the other mythological masterpieces of the Galleria,\u00a0the exhibition will reaffirm the enduring relevance of myth\u00a0<\/b>and its central role in shaping the European imagination.<\/p>\n
The exhibition path will offer\u00a0a symbolic and sensory re-reading of transformation<\/b>, evoking the tension between order and change, the fluidity of identities, and the dynamic relationship between body and nature. Within this dialogue between myth and art, metamorphosis emerges not only as a physical transformation but also as an\u00a0aesthetic and ontological category<\/b>\u00a0capable of interrogating the relationships between time, space, matter, and form.<\/p>\n
Produced in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, the exhibition\u00a0catalogue<\/b>\u00a0– available in Italian, English, and Dutch – presents all the works displayed in the two venues and includes\u00a0essays by Italian and Dutch scholars<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Galleria Borghese thanks Intesa Sanpaolo \u2013 Gallerie d\u2019Italia and Webuild S.p.A.<\/strong> for their support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From 23 June to 20 September 2026, Galleria Borghese\u00a0will host\u00a0Metamorphoses. Ovid and the Arts, a major exhibition project developed in collaboration with the\u00a0Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.\u00a0Curated by Francesca Cappelletti\u00a0and Frits Scholten, the exhibition was conceived through a\u00a0shared scholarly dialogue\u00a0between the two institutions. Following its Dutch presentation, which will close on 25 May, the project will travel to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":17638,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[13],"class_list":["post-17406","exhibition","type-exhibition","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-future"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n