Florence is renowned for its rich cultural heritage, often associated with the masterpieces of the Renaissance. From Botticelli’s exquisite The Birth of Venus at the Uffizi Gallery to Michelangelo’s towering David at the Accademia, and the architecture of its historic center, the city is a treasure trove of artistic brilliance. Yet, the Tuscan capital also embraces modern and contemporary art, with Palazzo Strozzi serving as a prominent hub for innovative exhibitions.
Located less than a five-minute walk from the Duomo, Palazzo Strozzi is firmly rooted in Florence’s historical center. The Strozzi family played an important role in city life during the 15th century both with its patronage of the arts and its banking and mercantile ventures. The Strozzi opposed the Medici, which led Cosimo the Elder to ban the family’s male members from Florence in 1434. Filippo Strozzi’s exile was lifted in 1466 and on his return home he decided to build a residence with the ambition of creating the “largest and finest palazzo” in Florence. Following the advice of an astrologer, the foundation stone of the Palazzo was placed at dawn on 6th August 1489 under the sign of Leo. The grand structure, characterized by its imposing rusticated stone walls, began construction in 1489. Tragically, Filippo passed away in 1491, never witnessing its completion, which occurred in 1538. That same year, Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici seized the palazzo, holding it under Medici control until it was returned to the Strozzi family three decades later.
The Palazzo remained within the family until 1937, later undergoing a makeover between 1938 and 1940 to transform into an exhibition space, the largest in Florence. The building was taken over by the Foundation, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in 2006, organizing more than 50 exhibitions and attracting in excess of three million visitors to date.
Palazzo Strozzi fosters an open dialogue between tradition and modernity through its diverse exhibitions. These range from highly acclaimed historical retrospectives of old masters such as Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino or Verrocchio, to showcases featuring renowned contemporary artists such as Ai Weiwei, Carsten Höller, and Marina Abramović.
Marina Abramović: The Cleaner
In 2018, Palazzo Strozzi hosted Marina Abramović’s four-month long solo exhibition The Cleaner, becoming Italy’s first ever major retrospective devoted to the performance artist. A celebrated yet controversial figure on the contemporary art scene, since starting in the 60s, Abramović’s practice and research has revolutionized the very idea of performance art. The show brought together over 100 of her works ranging her career, with videos, photographs, paintings, objects, installations and the live re-performance of her celebrated performances by a group of performers specifically selected and trained for the show. Amongst the performances was Imponderabilia (1977), which was originally performed with her ex partner and fellow artist, Ulay. The performance consists of the two performers standing completely nude in a doorway, through which the visitor must pass through.
The visitor follows the artist’s impressive artistic career, from her revolutionary works as an art student in Belgrade to her continued work within contemporary performance art. It was in the 1970s that she began to work on performances involving the direct use of her own body, exemplified in the exhibition by the Rhythm series (1973–4). In Rhythm 0, a six-hour long endurance art in an art gallery in Naples, the spectator was invited to do to her whatever they wished, using one of 72 objects she had placed on a table. These included a rose, feather, perfume, honey, bread, grapes, wine, scissors, a scalpel, nails, a metal bar, a gun, and a bullet.
Known for her durational pieces, Abramović was the extraordinary The Artist is Present (2010). First staged at the MoMA in New York, the set included two chairs and a table in between, Abramović would sit for several hours over a duration of three months, facing in silence whoever would choose to sit in the opposite chair.
Olafur Eliasson: Nel tuo tempo
A big name in contemporary art, in 2022 Palazzo Strozzi presented the solo show dedicated to Icelandic-Danish visual artist Olafur Eliasson, the largest exhibition in Italy to date exploring his art. Eliasson’s multifaceted practice places the visitor at the heart of his reflection on the notion of shared experience and interaction with reality. The artist worked on all of the Palazzo’s Renaissance spaces, from the courtyard to the Piano Nobile and the Strozzina undercroft in a path that features new installations and historic works that combine elements as color, water, and light to create an interaction with our senses and the Renaissance architecture. The historical and symbolic architecture of the Palazzo is reimagined with installations built around the visitor who becomes an integral part of the artwork.
One of Eliasson’s most impressive installations is The Weather Project, which seamlessly fuses art and environment, emphasizing the interplay and dialogue between humans and their natural or artificial surroundings. Debuting at London’s Tate Modern in 2003, this monumental installation transformed the Turbine Hall into an immersive spectacle that challenges the divide between the natural and the manufactured. At its heart lies a massive, glowing sun crafted with mono-frequency lights, casting a warm, otherworldly radiance throughout the space. Mirrors on the ceiling and mist in the air amplify the illusion, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Eliasson designed the installation to inspire reflection and interaction, encouraging visitors to lie down and bask in the sunlight’s glow.
Anish Kapoor: Untrue Unreal
A more recent exhibition was dedicated to the surreal works and installations of British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor. Kapoor’s art merges the unreal with the untrue, transforming or negating the common perception of reality. He invites the spectator to explore a world where the boundaries between what is true and false dissolve, opening the doors to the realm of the impossible. One of the distinguishing features is the way Kapoor’s works transcend their materiality. Kapoor’s works merge empty and full space, absorbing and reflecting surface, geometric and biomorphic form. In a world where reality seems increasingly elusive and manipulable, Kapoor challenges us to seek truth beyond appearances, inviting us to explore the territory of the untrue and the unreal.
Throughout his career, Kapoor has been a master of manipulating materials, often incorporating unconventional substances such as pigment, wax, stainless steel, and more recently, reflective materials such as polished stainless steel and mirrored surfaces. In 2014, Kapoor controversially bought the exclusive artistic rights to a pigment called Vantablack. The pigment was first produced by Surrey NanoSystems, and was promoted as “the blackest black to exist in the world,” absorbing almost all visible light, 98.8% to be exact. Originally created for military purposes, Kapoor had another idea in mind which led to the artist signing a legal contract securing the exclusive rights to use the newly-discovered pigment for sculptures and paintings. When used, the colour distorts our idea of what is real and not real; the artist has expressed his interest in the idea of the void. As such, viewers are left unsure whether there is a hole in the ground or a painted circular form.
Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules
Explore the groundbreaking work of Helen Frankenthaler in the exhibition, Painting Without Rules, running until January 26th, 2025. Arranged chronologically, spanning from the 1950s to the early 2000s, the exhibition provides an in-depth overview of the artist’s work, placing her pieces in dialogue with those of contemporary artists such as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, Morris Louis, David Smith, Anthony Caro, and Anne Truitt.
Visitors are invited on a journey through large canvases, works on paper, and sculptures, creating a path that highlights the artist’s extraordinary originality. Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) played a pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting, challenging conventions and expanding the boundaries of art in pursuit of a new freedom of expression. Renowned for her innovative soak-stain technique, Frankenthaler applied diluted paint to unprepared canvases, creating effects similar to watercolor but on a grand scale. This approach allowed her to explore new relationships between color, space, and form, expanding the possibilities of abstract painting in a way that continues to inspire new generations of artists.
Cover photo: Bartosz Klukaczewski, 2022/Unsplash
[Written November 2024]
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