From Michelangelo to Rodin: exhibition opening

The Alinari Foundation is delighted to announce the exhibition From Michelangelo to Rodin through the Alinari Lens, to be held at the Casa Museo dell'Antiquariato Ivan Bruschi in Arezzo from 12 June to 6 September 2026.

The exhibition, curated by Rita Scartoni, is promoted by the Fondazione Ivan Bruschi - Intesa Sanpaolo with Fondazione CR Firenze, in collaboration with the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia, under the patronage of the Regionof Tuscany and the Municipality of Arezzo.

Spanning the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, the exhibition showcases the modern rediscovery of Michelangelo’s work through 78 photographs. Photography facilitated this rediscovery, as it was a new medium capable of 'transcribing' the complexity of Michelangelo's work — from the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel to the sculptures of the Medici Chapels — into the two-dimensional space of the photographic print. The three great 19th-century photographic studios — Alinari, Brogi and Anderson — tackled this task with extraordinary skill at a time when photography was still characterised by experimentation and craftsmanship. Large negative plates of works such as Moses, the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgement bear witness to a very high technical and artistic standard.

The circulation of these images fuelled art-historical studies and contributed to the creation of a vast body of cultural imagery, evident even in Gabriele D’Annunzio’s poetic works. Concurrently, the reinterpretation of Michelangelo profoundly impacted sculpture between the 19th and 20th centuries. Artists such as Auguste Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle recognised Michelangelo's twisted figures as a source of intense dramatic energy and transformed them into a new plastic language.

Through the lens, Michelangelo's work is continually reinterpreted rather than merely reproduced, as can be seen in the photographic series of the statues in the New Sacristy during the Second World War. His work is a living model capable of transcending time and renewing itself in the gaze of modernity.

Opening hours
Wednesday to Sunday 10.00 am – 1.00 pm / 2.00 pm – 6.00 pm.
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

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