Robert Mapplethorpe at Le Stanze delle Fotografia, Venice

Robert Mapplethorpe - Le Forme del Classico

Le Stanze della Fotografia in Venice, presents a major exhibition dedicated to Robert Mapplethorpe , one of the most iconic, refined and controversial photographers of the twentieth century. Curated by Denis Curti , artistic director of Le Stanze, and organized by Marsilio Arte and Fondazione Giorgio Cini in collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation of New York , this retrospective represents the first chapter of the exhibition trilogy that will continue in 2026 with events in Milan and Rome.

A Journey Into Classical Beauty Through Photography The exhibition “Robert Mapplethorpe. The Forms of the Classic” brings together over 200 works, some of which have never been exhibited before in Italy. The exhibition opens with collages and ready-mades from the 1960s and continues with portraits of Patti Smith , Lisa Lyon , and international celebrities such as Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Susan Sontag, Glenn Close, Yoko Ono, and Richard Gere. The exhibition explores the dialogue between contemporary photography and classicism , relating the plasticity of the bodies portrayed by Mapplethorpe to ancient statuary. The male and female nudes , the iconic portraits and the famous images of flowers such as calla lilies, tulips and orchids are transformed into timeless photographic sculptures, shaped by light and a perfect composition.

An unpublished and poetic tribute to a master of the lens As Denis Curti points out, the Venetian exhibition highlights the way in which Mapplethorpe reinterprets classical aesthetics to explore themes such as desire, identity, gender and sensuality , with a cultured and visionary language. The images, curated with absolute precision, become bridges between past and present, between formal rigor and emotional power. The exhibition also includes vintage objects and archive documents from the Mapplethorpe Foundation: personal letters, records, posters, rare editions and two short films signed by the artist himself.