Orizzonti | Rosso - Horizons | Red

PM23 is the new cultural space of the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation at number 23 in the historic Piazza Mignanelli, just a stone’s throw from Piazza di Spagna, where Valentino Garavani founded his atelier in 1960. The exhibition program opens with an immersive exhibition that explores the color red in its many shades, its symbolic and aesthetic power, its resonances and the imagery it evokes.

With a long history dating back to prehistoric times, in the caves of the Palaeolithic era, red is the archetypal color par excellence, the first pigment that man mastered, manufactured and reproduced, first in painting and then in dyeing. Over the centuries, it has retained its evocative power and has been enriched with poetic and symbolic meanings, associated with strong and vital emotions and the representation of abstractions such as power, love, struggle, passion, danger and desire.

From the famous “Fiesta” dress of 1959 to his latest creation in 2008, red is naturally also Valentino Garavani’s unmistakable signature, the common thread running through his career and the hallmark of his artistic identity. In a journey that combines the worlds of fashion and art, fifty iconic red creations designed by Valentino in his over fifty-year long career interact with thirty modern and contemporary art masterpieces, many of which are on display for the first time in Rome. Among the artists on display at PM23 are Francis Bacon, Basquiat, Cy Twombly, Damien Hirst, Picasso, Rothko, Andy Warhol, Afro, Burri and Fontana, with works dedicated to, or inextricably linked to, “Valentino red”.

From 25 May to 10 June, the exhibition can be visited free of charge by invitation (subject to availability). From 11 June to 30 October, access is by reservation only and requires an admission ticket. For more information, visit the official website.