The treasures of Impressionism, Russian art and Italian Design will delight art lovers in a unique tour of three exhibitions at Palazzo delle Esposizioni.

Ground Floor

As you enter the magnificent belly of Palazzo delle Esposizioni (a true gem itself on Via Nazionale), you will be welcomed by Russia on The Road (until 15^th December 2015), just behind the foyer. With over 60 paintings dating from 1920s to 1970s, this section brings you right into the heart of a drastically changing Mother Russia. From graphic posters illustrating the great technological achievements of the Soviet era, to propaganda paintings celebrating the social and cultural developments of the 1950s, up until the more realistic portraits of the 1970s, the exhibition is an artistic journey inside another journey. In these works, travel and its beauty, harshness, triviality and struggle is a metaphor for life itself. The trains, planes, automobiles and even high-altitude balloons become the space where the lives of peasants, students, athletes and workers briefly intertwine with ring roads, corn fields, or inaccessible and hostile landscapes such as Siberia or the steppe as the background. Some of the most renowned artists featured in the exhibition are Anatoliij Šipov (Seagulls and Fishing Season), Georgij Nisskij (Above the Snows and En Route) and Jurii Pimenov (New Moscow and Flight Attendant).

Russia on The Road at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome — Andrew I. Plotnov
Arrivederci, terrestri!
Istituto dell’Arte Realista Russa

Over Impressionist and Modern 60 paintings are displayed in the rooms that open onto the foyer. Masterpieces from The Phillips Collection (until 14^th February 2015) include works from the very early days of the Impressionist movement to modern day. The fil rouge running through these different ages is nature and the artist’s relationship with it. With the aim of depicting pure, realistic observations, nature develops into a form of expression through which the inner perspective of the artist is revealed. In other words, putting “the logic of the Visible at the service of the Invisible”, as French symbolist Odilon Redon described it. Manet, Courbet, Degas, Delacroix, Goya, Ingres live side by side with Van Gogh, Sisley, Picasso, Braque, Dufy, Gris, Utrillo, Modigliani, Matisse, Morandi in addition to many more artists who fill the gap up to the delirious visions of Soutine, Pollock, De Staël and Gottlieb, for who used the physical act of painting as a way to connect to their subconscious and explore it.

Impressionist and Modern: Masterpieces from The Phillips Collection — Jackson Pollock
Composizione
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
dono Judith H. Miller, 1990

First floor

As you climb the stairs to the first floor, leaving realism and nature behind, prepare to enter the realm of fantasy and reverie. The first room of Una Dolce Vita? From the “Liberty Style” to Italian Design (until 17^th January 2016) is a celebration of Art Nouveau design (in Italy known as Liberty), embodied in furniture, vases, paintings, and tapestries. Each item reflects the love of curved lines, decoration and reverie that was typical of artists such as Bugatti, Quarti, Sartorio, Bellotto and Zecchin. Chandeliers, mirrors, tables and chairs in shapes reminiscent of snakes, butterflies and snail shells will bring you closer to the world of Klimt and introduce you to the Italian perspective of the Viennese Secession. The aim of this exhibition is to explore the incredible creativity that characterized Italy in the period leading to the catastrophe of Mussolini’s regime. It is in this playful creativity and in the endless imagination of these artists, together with Futurists (such as Balla and Depero), Metaphysical artists (De Chirico, Casorati), New Classicists, Rationalist architects and Magical Realism painters that the unmistakable Italian style has its roots.