The big day has arrived: today the new major Forlì exhibition ‘Pre-Raphaelites, Modern Renaissance’ opens, open to visitors until June 30. An exhibition that seems to mark a turn of the screw with respect to the past for a precise reason: although before the lenders were not only Italian, never before have the connections with England been as good as now (precisely here, after all, in the In the mid-19th century the Pre-Raphaelite movement), the United States and the rest of Europe. To date, 35 thousand reservations have already been made.
In fact, at the preview held yesterday in San Giacomo, most of the curators had to resort to an interpreter: further proof of the red thread that connects the exhibition with the rest of the world in a dense dialogue. The president of the Carisp Foundation, Maurizio Gardini, reiterates: “For 19 years we have been giving life not only to large exhibitions, but also to a scientific project that has transformed Forlì into a city of culture. This time we have done something more: a exhibition with international scope”. Gardini also dedicated a moment to Antonio Paolucci, former minister and for many years president of the scientific committee, recently deceased: “he is a teacher who always encouraged us in the construction of a complex vision. He would very much like this exhibition.” .
Mayor Gian Luca Zattini defines the exhibition as “a challenge overcome.” And he continues: “No one in Forlì can imagine the city without major exhibitions. For me now is the time to take stock – he refers to the imminent end of his mandate -. I have seen 5 exhibitions created in critical conditions: Covid, economic crisis and floods, but the Foundation has never stopped and this year it has also created a very rich event. Forlì has now become a city of art in every sense.”
An “international” exhibition, as also defined by the general director of exhibitions Gianfranco Brunelli, who continues: “It is an exhibition that we can say is ‘infinite’, because the comparison does not end with the end of the exhibition itself, but continues further thanks to the numerous sets of references and interpretations”.
The word then passed to the curators. The first to take the microphone was Elizabeth Prettejohn: “With this exhibition, born in the spirit of a great international collaboration, we wanted to tell a love story, the one that modern British artists developed for the Italian Renaissance and here in Forlì, for Por For the first time, we examine the role they had in reworking with their gaze a hitherto neglected artistic movement, but be careful: it was not an imitation, but rather an inspiration to give life to something completely new. see in different rooms, thanks to precise comparisons between ancient and modern. We hope that this exhibition will also be a stimulus for future generations.”
According to Cristina Acidini, “the Pre-Raphaelites have never stopped inspiring us, so we can say that they have never become extinct, but they are still present today in illustration, cinema and fashion that shape our concept of beauty. Here in San Domenico has created a fruitful dialogue between the masters of the past and the young rebels who invented a new Renaissance art. It is an exhibition of unrepeatable charm.” One of the curators, Peter Trippi, comes from the United States: “In the United States – he assures – great attention has recently been paid to the artistic movement of the Pre-Raphaelites. Three works that are exhibited here in the refectory have recently been on display at the Metropolitan in “New York. I know that the exhibition is already attracting interest from American critics and collectors and the hope is that they will want to come here in person and that the dialogue can continue in the future.” Francesco Parisi talks about the genesis of the exhibition: “We started working three and a half years ago. In Italy it is rare to have such long delivery times.” A very respectable business card, the one presented by promoters and curators.