The cultural season is opening its doors to spring, and events and exhibitions are increasing in all cities in anticipation of an increasing flow of tourists. In Padua, a city with a rich and ancient cultural tradition, there are countless events on this theme. Let us look at three of them.
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: the Gelman Collection
Padua is the only Italian stop on the world tour of this important collection. Promoted by the Department of Culture of the City of Padua, the exhibition is organised by the Vergel Foundation, MondoMostre and Skira, in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (Inbal), and curated by Daniela Ferretti.
The main core of works comes from Jacques and Natasha Gelman's famous US collection, which brings as many as 23 works by Frida Kahlo and 9 works by Diego Rivera to the exhibition. In addition to these, there are also many photographic portraits of the two, taken by the best international photographers of the time: Héctor Garcia, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Giséle Freund, Martin Munkacsi, Nickolas Muray, Lucienne Bloch and Edward Weston.
The exhibition, which has been open since 14 February and will run until 4 June, is located at the Centro Culturale Altinate/San Gaetano. It can be visited from Monday to Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.). On Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (last admission 9:30 p.m.). Three special openings are also planned: 25 April, from 10:00 to 19:30, 1 May, from 10:00 to 19:30 and 2 June, from 10:00 to 22:30.
All information about the exhibition, including how to purchase tickets, can be found on the official website.
Ritratti antichi ma contemporanei: Francesco Apollodoro and Leandro Bassano
We talk about portraits again with this exhibition dedicated to two artists who specialised in the genre. Francesco Apollodoro (Venice, 1531 - Padua, 1612) worked for a long time in the city of Padua, the main university seat of the Serenissima and the forge of the portrait genre. His skill was in capturing the perfect recognition of the portrait with that of the client, in an era when the work had to transmit the image of the illustrious person to posterity and usefully contribute to electing him as an example of virtue. In Venice, his direct competitor, Leandro Bassano (Bassano del Grappa, 1557 - Venice, 1622) was elected as one of the major exponents of the portrait genre at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries.
In addition to a selection of paintings from the Museum of Medieval and Modern Art in Padua and two previously unpublished portraits by Francesco Apollodoro from the Selvatico Estense collection in Imola, the exhibition also features a number of illustrated books with intaglio portraits of important figures of the time, from the Biblioteca Civica and the University Library in Padua. There is also a multimedia part, with some portraits establishing visual contact with the viewer. In addition to this, one can also see the digital restoration of an important work by Leandro Bassano that was destroyed during the Second World War: the Portrait of Leone Bonzio, which was kept at the Staatliches Museum Schwerin in Germany.
The exhibition, set up at Palazzo Zuckermann, can already be visited from 5 April and is open until 28 May. Admission is free and opening hours are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.. Closing days are non-holiday Mondays and 1 May.
Barricate misteriose by Franco Beraldo
Eighteen Murano glass stelae are the works presented by Franco Beraldo and created by the artist for the Oratorio di San Rocco. The title is inspired by a musical composition for harpsichord, written by François Couperin in 1717. The stelae, composed of large glass fragments fused together and with the 'scars' of the fusion well in evidence, are placed in the centre of the 16th-century oratory, while there is also a large blown Murano glass vase at the foot of the altar.
Franco Beraldo, who was born in Meolo in 1944 and moved to Mestre when he was still a boy, began his artistic activity in 1965, participating in numerous competitions, reviews, collective and personal exhibitions and has received and continues to receive numerous prizes and awards.
The exhibition, held at the Oratorio di San Rocco, is open from 8 April until 2 July and can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 16:30 to 19:00.
