Places, figures, still lifes. Works from the Gallery of Modern Art in Roma Capitale

After the success of recent events aimed at enhancing works in the collection - notably the exhibition “Percorsi del Novecento romano dalla Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna”, held at Villa Torlonia - Casino dei Principi in 2010, and “Poesia della natura. Acquerelli di Onorato Carlandi dalle collezioni della Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna”, held at the Museum of Rome in 2011 - the inaugural exhibition of the museum on via Crispi presents an original reading of the masterpieces of one of most important collections of modern art in Rome.
 The former 18th-century convent of the Discalced Carmelites, on Via Capo le Case, has been the site of Rome’s City Gallery of Modern Art since 1995. After a long period of closure, it is now reopening to the public with an exhibition of an important selection of works shown to their best advantage by the Gallery’s new layout.
 Like many other city museums created after the proclamation of Rome as the capital of Italy, in 1870, the Gallery – born to document the production of contemporary art – already owned an invaluable core of works when it opened in 1925 at its first site, Palazzo Caffarelli on Capitol Hill. The collection increased over time through acquisitions made by the City of Rome from the major national and international exhibitions organized in Rome.
 The Gallery’s rich and varied collection of paintings, sculptures and prints – over three thousand works in all – offers an exhaustive view of art and culture in Rome and Italy from the mid-19th century to after World War II. This span of time, starting when united Italy was in its infancy and Rome became its capital, and continuing through the two world wars and the cultural dynamics of the first half of the 20th century, was marked by important historical and social changes.
 The vastness of the collection, considered in relation to the amount of available display space, suggests mounting a rotating series of temporary shows and events rather than a permanent exhibition.
 The first exhibition proposes three itineraries focusing on key themes that run through the whole chronological span of the collection, presenting the masterpieces in an absolutely unprecedented perspective.
 The three thematic sections, each occupying one of the building’s floors, concern the Figure (and its many aspects); Places (in particular views and visions of Rome); and The Shape of Things (still lifes and the new readings of an artistic genre that was a favorite in the 20th century). In addition, there is a Sculpture section, the only theme that intersects all the other sections in the exhibition.
 The exhibition winds up with a room devoted to works by Futurist artist Giacomo Balla, and the Prints and Drawings Room.