Among the great exhibitions, here is one, inaugurated in Rome, which is worth a visit. “Echo and Narcissus. Portrait and self-portrait in the collections of the Maxxi and the Barberini Corsini National Galleries” marks not only the reopening of the rooms of the Palazzo Barberini occupied for decades by the Armed Forces Officers Club. Above all, the exhibition opens the Baroque rooms to the works of the Museum of XXI Century Arts and contaminates those of the ancient collection with the more contemporary works. A mix not to be missed.
And so to the Narcissus by Caravaggio who revels in his image - the nymph Echo who fell in love with him according to Ovid's story is completely absent - replies Giulio Paolini with its black monolith (the installation “Echo in the void“) which reflects the icon in a contemporary key. It is the first shock also because we have entered the Oval Room, a jewel in itself.
The first step is majestic, the entrance into the large living room with the vault frescoed by Pietro da Cortona: 500 square meters of frescoes celebrate the glory of Pope Urban VIII, the passing of time and the Barberini family. Here Luigi Ontani has imagined an installation on Hours which flows, through a series of panels in sequence, like a clock, thus giving time a representation in space. In the Throne Halls Shirin Neshat and his video that questions the unearthed ghosts of memory”Illusions & Mirrors” (protagonist the actress Natalie Portman) converses with the Beatrice Cenci by Guido Reni which is said to have been portrayed shortly before going to the gallows.
