It may seem like we are in the grip of cold, dark winter, but with art exhibits in full bloom, spring starts early in Florence.
The 2013 exhibition season opens with a show featuring more than 100 works by the great surrealist, Salvador Dalí at Palazzo Medici Riccardi (January 30 to May 25). The annual Un Anno ad Arte calendar of special exhibitions at state museums begins on March 5, at the Uffizi Gallery, with Spanish Artists in Italy in the Early Mannerist Period.
“Oasis” by Salvador Dali | Photo by cea + on Flickr
The Renaissance period stars in numerous other exhibits, including one on civic art in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Florence, at the Accademia Gallery (May 14 to December 8), and another on the theme of the dream in Renaissance art, at the Galleria Palatina (May 21 to September 15). Renaissance sculpture tops the bill at Palazzo Strozzi, with the aptly titled The Springtime of the Renaissance, which opens on March 23. (After the show closes on August 18, it will travel to the Louvre, in Paris).
A pleasant surprise is the new regular opening of the Rucellai Chapel, which houses Leon Battista Alberti’s jewel-like, miniature-scale copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Located in a chapel that is part of the church of San Pancrazio, it shares a wall with the Marino Marini museum, and now will be accessible with that museum’s entry ticket and during its hours. Starting February 17, when it will be free for the special occasion, hours will be daily from 10am to 5pm, with entry every half hour.
Still more good news for Renaissance art in Florence: the Michelangelo room in the Uffizi Gallery, which features the famous Doni Tondo, has received a restyling.
Mark your calendars and be sure to take in all the art Florence has to offer!
