The exhibition takes its starting point from the emblematic figures of the Vienna Secession – Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Oskar Kokoschka – to explore one of the central issues of twentieth-century art: the body as a mirror of individual and collective anxieties. In their works, the body fractures, contorts, and becomes charged with psychological and social tensions, transforming from an object of representation into an actual battleground. Building upon this reflection, the itinerary opens up a dialogue with the lyrical and metaphysical imagery of Felice Casorati and Guido Cadorin, reaching contemporary artists who have placed the body, its absences, time, actions, and the traces left upon it at the core of their research.
Piero Manzoni, Gina Pane, and Ana Mendieta thus bring the body back to the center of artistic discourse, addressing themes such as identity, politics, fragility, and representation, while constructing – across different eras and visual languages – a reflection on the physical and symbolic presence of the body in art.
