A painting that has been questioning those who look at it for over four centuries, suspended between darkness and reflection, has left the rooms of Palazzo Barberini to arrive in Basilicata: the Caravaggio exhibition is on display at the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Potenza until 30 November. Narcissus, the myth of a masterpiece, which brings the Narcissus attributed to the Lombard master, kept in the National Gallery of Ancient Art in Rome, to the Lucanian capital. The exhibition has free entry, with online booking required on the basilicataturistica.it portal. The initiative is promoted and organized by Apt Basilicata and the Basilicata Region in collaboration with the General Directorate of Museums of the Ministry of Culture and with the National Galleries of Ancient Art of Rome, with the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality and the Province of Potenza.
The exhibition, from the myth of Narcissus to Caravaggio's painting
The exhibition itinerary, conceived by the curators as a story in five acts, accompanies the visitor first among the archaeological and literary roots of the myth of Narcissus, and then enters an immersive space of reflective surfaces and plays of light, for a physical experience of doubling and vertigo. A montage of extracts from documentaries, auteur cinema and animation tells how the image of Narcissus continues to populate the contemporary imagination, before the culminating moment of the journey: the encounter, in an almost meditative space, with Caravaggio's painting, a work of synthesis between myth, psychology and reflection on the act of seeing itself. The exhibition closes with an unprecedented comparison with the Lucanian twentieth century, through the works that Carlo Levi dedicated to the same subject: a direct dialogue between the Roman seventeenth century and the Basilicata of the last century, which no other venue could have proposed. To enrich the itinerary, loans from leading institutions such as the Uffizi Galleries, the Estensi Galleries, the Capodimonte Museum, the National Museums of Genoa and the Accademia Galleries of Venice, with works by Vincenzo Gemito, Antonio Giovanni Boltraffio, Domenico Parodi, Jean Roos, Charles Mellin and Giulio Carpioni.
The role of Basilicata
"Bringing the Narcissus to Potenza, a work rarely loaned out, means betting on culture as an engine capable of activating even the territories less visited by large exhibition circuits, generating a value that can compete with that of the major museum centres. We don't want it to remain an isolated episode even if it is of great value: my intention is that it is the beginning of a path that makes large exhibitions a structural feature of the cultural offer of Basilicata", explained the general director of Apt Basilicata, Margherita Sarli, during the inauguration of the exhibition last September. An investment which, for the president of the Basilicata Region, Vito Bardi, goes well beyond the single exhibition event: "The exhibition dedicated to Caravaggio's Narcissus represents a strategic step in regional cultural policy. The Basilicata Region has believed in this operation from the beginning, supporting the project with Apt Basilicata and investing resources to deliver to the city of Potenza an event of international scope, a renewed, stronger and more competitive Museum. This exhibition is the symbol of a Basilicata that moves, renews and recognizes itself in culture as a driver of development that arises from the collaboration between institutions and the ability of the Region to orient and support valorization processes that generate real benefits for citizens".
The numbers of the exhibition
A few days after the inauguration of the exhibition - which took place last 10 September - the online booking platform had exceeded 22,000 reservations (22,791), a figure which immediately placed the initiative among the most followed ever held in Basilicata and which confirmed the ability of a provincial capital to attract the public to an event of national caliber. The response from the school world deserves a separate chapter. In fact, numerous institutes of all levels, from all over the region and beyond, have joined the educational courses designed specifically for the visiting classes, booking dedicated entrances for the school year that has just started.
Exhibitions and events surrounding the exhibition
But the project isn't just about the exhibition. In fact, there are four collateral exhibitions to the exhibition: a contemporary dialogue with Caravaggio, a costume that speaks the language of Lucanian tradition, a sculpture that makes the gaze its subject and two large photographs in which the desire for beauty ends up replacing the face itself. The four exhibitions, which are located on the ground floor of the same building in which the exhibition is housed, were chosen as part of the expression of interest promoted by the Apt last summer and aimed at associations, organizations and artists. A specially appointed Technical Commission managed the selection. Also around the exhibition, seven events have been created: two conferences of a historical and psychological nature, a lectio magistralis, an encounter with poetry, a film walk among the city's architecture, a concert and a musical.
