Maurizio Galimberti. The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci

Gallerie d’Italia, Milan

For some years now the Sala delle Colonne at the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan has been hosting exhibitions exploring contemporary artists and trends, in association with the Cantiere del ’900 section of the Intesa Sanpaolo collections.

Part of celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of Leonardo, the 2019 edition places the focus on the language of photography. It features the prominent photographer Maurizio Galimberti and his re-interpretation of Leonardo’s extraordinary The Last Supper.

The Last Supper in instant photos

Following his celebrated portraits of world-renowned figures such as Lady Gaga, Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp and Umberto Eco, and shots taken in New York, Milan, Rome and Venice, Maurizio Galimberti comes face-to-face with Leonardo’s The Last Supper.
Marking the 500th anniversary of the Tuscan genius’ death, as well as the 180th anniversary of the invention of photography, the exhibition offers a personal interpretation of Leonardo’s masterpiece through a series of instant photos shot over several months.
The enormous work (8.90 x 1.40 metres) was produced using a giant life-size photograph of the artwork as a model – provided by the Scala Archive, Florence – printed with a plotter. Galimberti thought it necessary to reproduce the work, because his technique involves placing the camera equipment in direct view of the portrait subject, impossible with mural painting as delicate as The Last Supper. The shots in the exhibition are the result of a photographic study printed on a plotter.

The photographer used an Instant Camera 600, a Spectra and a Fuji Instax Square SQ 20, along with a Giant Camera – a huge view camera, of which there are very few in the world – to create a map of the painting and transform it into images that are imbued with his expressive touch and artistic sensibility.

Galimberti’s aim is not to observe reality in sharp focus, but to concentrate his attention on the nuances created by breaking down and reinterpreting the details of a hallowed piece of world art heritage in a contemporary key.

He has brought his own, highly original style to The Last Supper, taking another look at its size and reassembling the splendour of Leonardo’s painting in a mosaic with hints of dadaism and cubism.

The artist has put together a work that transforms reality – by duplicating the apostles and breaking down Christ’s body – fully respecting the original work, without veering towards a sacrilegious interpretation.

His instant photographs and mosaic compositions disrupt the overall view we have of reality, focusing the viewer’s eyes on an altered, unseen perspective.

The constant dialogue between real and surreal that Maurizio Galimberti effects on The Last Supper shows how a masterpiece already reinterpreted by artists of the calibre of Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalì and Peter Greenaway continues to stimulate new experiments, moving further and further beyond the confines of photography.

 

Date
from 21.11.2019 to 12.01.2020
Past
Opening hours
from 9:30 am to 7.30 pm
Open until 10:30 pm on Thursdays.

Last admission: 1 hour before closing.
Closed on Mondays.
Prices

Combined ticket valid for the exhibitions and permanent collections:
– full-price: €10.00
– reduced: €8.00
– special reduction: €5.00

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