Exhibition

Art of Transformation

From grotesque to Carnival

8 October, 2015 - 22 January, 2016

A tour by the fascinating world of the grotesque. The art that the French historian André Chastel called “the ornament without name” and consists of vast fantastic ornamental repertoire that has as its object the fusion of elements and the mixture of natural forms, vegetables and figures human beings. The origin of this art is in the decorative paintings discovered in the ancient Domus Aurea of Nero in Rome. The surprise of this discovery in the Renaissance encouraged artists and creators to make copies and versions on these subjects (influencing the world of goldsmithing, architecture, sculpture and object arts).

This exhibition shows more than a hundred engravings and drawings from 16th to 19th centuries by Flemish, French, Italian, and Spanish artists and illustrate the success of this formula during the Renaissance, the Baroque and other later trends, such as rococo chineries and even the ornamental repertoire of the “Indianas”, etc. In addition, the exhibition shows series of engravings on the Metamorphoses of Ovid and gathers prints about the carnival, where transformation also takes place.

Poster 695.96 KB

Triptych 519.06 KB

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