The revolutionary art of one of the most celebrated artists of all times
Traces of Michelangelo Merisi can be found throughout Rome – from the unforgettable works displayed at San Luigi dei Francesi to the masterpieces of Basilica of St. Augustine and Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo. These churches have long been mandatory stops for art lovers visiting the Eternal City, drawing people from across the globe.
Now, in addition to those artworks, until July 6, visitors will have a unique chance to admire as many as twenty-four of the most iconic artworks of Caravaggio, all united in one place at Palazzo Barberini.
Curated by Francesca Cappelletti, Maria Cristina Terzaghi, and Thomas Clement Salomon, this groundbreaking exhibition gathers paintings from prestigious national and international collections, offering an unparalleled glimpse into the artistic and personal evolution of one of history’s most celebrated painters. Thanks to extraordinary loans from world-renowned museums, the Galleria Barberini Corsini will host one of the most significant exhibitions ever dedicated to Caravaggio, tracing his life and intense artistic journey from 1595 until his mysterious death in Porto Ercole in 1610.
Invigorating the dark shade
The exhibition presents Palazzo Barberini’s permanent Caravaggio collection alongside other exceptional paintings coming from private and public museums across the world, including Texas, Madrid, London, Florence, Naples, Detroit, New York, Dublin.
The show is arranged into four different sections where lights and darkness alternate to create dynamic and tension between the characters and to convene intensity to the colours. While walking along the rooms, it is clear how the relationship between the artist and its commissioners influenced Caravaggio’s themes: from genre paintings reminding of a popular scenes to religious subjects, from mythology to portraits of influential members of the Roman life.
Through an innovative and revolutionary use of light and shades, Caravaggio’s work mirrors 16th-century society. The Roman exhibition set up is immersed in the dark, evoking a candle light atmosphere to heighten the contrasts and accentuate the vibrancy of Caravaggio’s brushstrokes. His paintings reveal violence and faith, fleeting youth, ambition, devotion and pain. With the use of light or its absence, Caravaggio uncovers statue-like bodies, highlights feelings and emotions hidden on wrinkled skin faces and in the pupils of its subjects which, we should not forget, were most of the times painted using common people or prostitutes as models.
c.a., olio su tela; 94,2×130,9 cm, Kimbell Art Museum,
Fort Worth (USA), Crediti: Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
«With his stark realism, dramatic lighting, and unparalleled emotional depth, Caravaggio, through action, knew how to portray the deepest facets of the human soul, from innocence to violence, from hope to despair. His paintings succeed today, for those to whom they speak, in bringing to a standstill this hastening of the time in which we live».
Thomas Clement Salomon, Director at Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica Palazzo Barberini-Galleria Corsini
Caravaggio’s paintings are coming back to Rome
Whether you are a devoted art historian or simply fascinated by Caravaggio’s genius, this is an unmissable experience for everyone. The path is easy to access, paintings are arranged in a chronological order so that this show gives the opportunity to understand the vision and progression of one of the most valued painters of all time.
It is difficult to concentrate on one painting more than on others as each one of the canvas tells us a part of a story and can move us in different ways. Visitors will be able to enjoy the newly discovered Ecce Homo, Taking of Jesus with its dynamic narrative, the Supper at Emmaus where figures seem to move before our eyes in shock after Jesus’s revelation. A special place has been given to the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, published by Roberto Longhi in 1963 and never offered on public display until just a few months ago; the first version of the Conversion of Saint Paul painted for the Cerasi chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo and hard to admire because it is conserved in a private residence. In addition to Saint Francis in Meditation, Saint John the Baptist, Judith Beheading Holofernes and Narcissus, all part of the permanent collection of Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, there are also other masterpieces that have “come back home”: The Cardsharps, The Musicians and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which Antonio Barberini acquired in 1628 from the collection of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte.
INSPIRATION
Where to see Caravaggio in Rome
A special addition to the exhibition lies at Casino dell’ Aurora at Villa Ludovisi. The twenty-fifth work in the exhibition is Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, the only fresco done by Caravaggio around 1597 commissioned by Cardinal Del Monte for the ceiling of the small room where he dabbled in alchemy. The work, rarely open to public view, is an allegory of Paracelsus’s three primes of alchemy: Jupiter, the personification of sulphur and air; Neptune, of mercury and water; and Pluto, of salt and earth.
Until 6 July 2025
GALLERIE NAZIONALI DI ARTE ANTICA – PALAZZO BARBERINI
Via delle Quattro Fontane 13, Rome
Opening times: Sunday to Thursday: 09am – 8:00pm Friday and Saturday: 09am – 10pm
Tickets: Full 18,00€ + online fee | Reductions may apply
