After the great success of the past editions, the original and much-admired curatorial formula conceived by Luca Massimo Barbero for the works and spaces of the Venetian museum. Themes & Variations reaches its fourth edition, with the intention of guiding the visitor to a new understanding of the well-known and lesser-known works of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection which, through a dense and multi-interpretative dialogue with the works of contemporary artists from other collections, open up in direct comparison with the contemporary.
What will amaze will be the unprecedented combinations of some indisputable masters such as Edgar Degas, Henry Matisse, Mark Rothko, Lucio Fontana, who through a series of close comparisons will lead the public to go beyond the temporal boundaries of the twentieth century, to arrive at the contemporaneity of Gabriele Basilico, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Anish Kapoor, Thomas Ruff, Kiki Smith, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Piotr Uklanski.
The fundamental "theme" of the exhibition is light, designed for similarities and contrasts, which often interacts with the subjects, from how it can reveal female bodies to its relaxation on abstract surfaces, to defining landscapes and cities. Light as reflection and luminescence, light that is dawn, dusk and dusk, a light that is always suspended, as if to mark the mystery of the changing continuity of places. Light and absence of light, understood as surreal darkness, the undisputed protagonist of the famous painting by René Magritte The empire of light, the main painting of the exhibition, much loved by Peggy Guggenheim as well as the works of other surrealists present, from which the whole exhibition itinerary unfolds, through a series of thematic and chronological variations on this same subject. All the variations always and in any case have the patron's collection at their centre, with her immortal masters and the exceptional quality of her works, inspiring muses for many contemporary searches. It is therefore a unique opportunity, which offers the possibility of traveling through the times of art thanks to the excellence of the choices and farsighted vision of the American collector, to observe the evolution of universal themes of the art scene, such as that of light, in curious and always original forms of expression. On display 54 works divided into 8 rooms, each with its own specific theme: figures and eyes, places, darkness and opacity, the empire of light, space and perception, expression, unconscious, nature.
The final section of the exhibition, as a by now traditional homage of the American museum to Italian art, is dedicated to the artist Fausto Melotti (1901 – 1986): a precious monograph that includes 20 works, including Counterpoint II, Forgotten Orpheus, Violin key, creations of this poetic sculptor, who in the incisive lightness of the sounds of his lines, has for years named some of his works precisely Theme and variations, from which the title of this review originates in 2002.
Themes & Variations. The empire of light is supported by Intrapresae Collezione Guggenheim, BSI. Swiss bankers since 1873 and the Veneto Region. With the collaboration of "Corriere della Sera", Radio Italia is media partner and Hangar Design Group takes care of the coordinated image for communication. Thanks to Mapei and Tempini, technical sponsors of the exhibition. The educational projects of the exhibition are realized with the support of the Araldi Guinetti Foundation, Vaduz.
