“VIS-À-VIS”: Contemporary Dialogues between Masterpieces from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Pinacoteca di Brera.
Caravaggio and Vasily Kandinsky, Raphael and Max Ernst, Piero della Francesca and Piet Mondrian are six great masters, six milestones in the history of Western art, who are ready to meet thanks to the “Vis-à-Vis” dialogues between Karole P.B. Vail, Director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, and James Bradburne, General Director of the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. The two institutions house some of the most iconic masterpieces of Italian and international art created between the 15th and 20th centuries. The two directors will draw comparisons between The Supper at Emmaus (1605– 1606) by Caravaggio and Landscape with Red Spots, No. 2 (1913) by Kandinsky; The Marriage of the Virgin (1504) by Raphael and Attirement of the Bride (1940) by Ernst; Brera Madonna (1472– 74) by Piero della Francesca and Composition No. 1 with Grey and Red 1938 / Composition with Red 1939 (1938–39) by Mondrian. Three short videos will be available on the social media channels of the two museums and describe the six artists and their masterpieces. The journey through five centuries of art history will show how, at any given time, art is always contemporary. Despite the passage of time, the expressed values and ideas remain relevant today.
The first video featuring Caravaggio and Kandinsky will be online starting Friday, December 11, 2020. The other videos will follow in January and February 2021. “Caravaggio was one of Western art best contemporary artists . . . he transformed forever the practice of Western painting,” says Bradburne presenting Michelangelo Merisi, whose Supper of Emmaus is among the most admired works at the Pinacoteca di Brera. “Throughout his long cosmopolitan life as an artist . . . Kandinsky did not shy away from . . . crises and challenges. He changed and experimented continuously, reinventing himself as circumstances dictated,” echoes Vail, speaking of one of the co-founders of abstraction. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection holds several works by Kandinsky, including Landscape with Red Spots, No.2.
Today more than ever, the transformative and therapeutic power of art and beauty lends momentum to building the present and the future based on dialogue, respect and inclusiveness. This is why the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection are collaborating together and making some of their treasures accessible now that the museums are closed. “Art can be consolation, inspiration, or even revelation,” affirms Vail. “It can help us understand the world we live in,” says Bradburne.
We hope you enjoy these videos!
Press contacts
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Maria Rita Cerilli
press@guggenheim-venice.it
+39 041 2405415
Pinacoteca di Brera
Antonella Fiori
a.fiori@antonellafiori.it
+39 347 2526982