by Danilo Nardoni
Through a “varied” calendar to enhance every form of art, starting from the heritage widespread in the Umbrian territory, activities and initiatives are coming which will animate the National Gallery of Umbria and the other 13 Umbrian state museums from spring to the end of the year . With the novelty of the single ticket which in an experimental form will start from 15 June to 7 October to further strengthen the idea of the museum circuit. Presenting the «Destinazione Umbria» season with exhibitions, events, meetings and shows was Costantino D’Orazio, director of the National Museums of Perugia – Regional Directorate of National Museums of Umbria, among masterpieces, photography, contemporary art and performances to create a system also with the most prestigious cultural realities of Umbria.
Events and single ticket D’Orazio defined it as a “varied” season, “to also move from the ancient to the modern to the contemporary, to enhance the territory and its heritage and to promote national museums, understood as dynamic kaleidoscopes, capable of intercepting bands of different audiences.” The objective, according to the director of the Umbrian museums, is therefore «to move towards the creation of a cultural system in which national, regional and local bodies collaborate, in a synergy, both horizontal, therefore territorial, and vertical , of interference between the arts”. To underline this synergy even further, during the presentation of the cultural program the single ticket was also announced: «We thought the time had come to experiment at the low cost of 15 euros, 10 euros for the reduced price, a ticket that could allow anyone to visit all our 14 museums with almost three months available to do so.”
Photography The hope for D’Orazio is that this experimentation will then become structural in the following months. On the exhibition front, between the valorisation of the historical heritage of national museums and contemporary art interventions, particular attention will be paid to photography. From 29 May at the National Gallery the «Camera obscura» exhibition will open with photographic exhibitions, curated by Alessandra Mauro, which will take place every six months inside the space already called «Exhibition box», a sort of treasure chest in which the works by some of the greatest photographers of our time. The event will kick off with a tribute to the territory with «Umbria, a love story. Fulvio Roiter» (29 May – 13 October); in autumn it will be the turn of «Robert Doisneau tout court» (26 October – 20 March 2025).
Contemporary art «The thin line of Umbria» is the title of the contemporary art exhibition spread throughout the area. From 15 June to 7 October the fourteen state cultural sites of Umbria will thus be the protagonists and for the first time the national institutes will collaborate with ten museums included in the regional circuit and other highly prestigious Umbrian institutions. The summer exhibitions at the Gallery will also be inaugurated with «Klimt, The Three Ages» (29 June – 15 September), which presents the painting by the Austrian master from the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. It will be the first of a cycle entitled «A masterpiece in Perugia», in which a fundamental work in the career of a famous artist is presented in an installation specially designed by the Umbrian Gallery and accompanied by a selection of works by other artists of the same period to delve deeper into the era and the themes addressed.
The billboard Then there will be space for modern art for the autumn exhibitions at the National Gallery. «Not everything is gold…» (12 October – 19 January 2025) will enrich the Podiani Room with some of the Gallery’s golden masterpieces in dialogue with works by great masters of contemporary art: anticipated by a preview currently underway in Venice at the Gallery Giorgio Franchetti at Ca’ d’Oro, the exhibition at the Perugian museum inaugurates the initiatives dedicated to modern art that will enliven the autumn seasons. Finally, there are numerous scheduled events. On 6 and 7 June the exhibition «The Enigma of the Master of San Francesco. The stil novo of thirteenth-century Umbria” – which attracted over 25 thousand visitors in just two months of opening – will be the protagonist of a conference entitled “Thirteenth-century Umbria as a crossroads of cultures”, which will take place in the National Gallery of Umbria and the Sacred Convent of Assisi. The Perugian museum will then continue its historical collaborations with some musical events: L’Umbria che Spacca, thanks to the exhibition «La Galleria che Spacca», Umbria Jazz, Sagra Musicale Umbra. In addition to music there will be the novelty of dance thanks to Umbria Danza Festival.
