Giovanni Baronzio and Alberto Burri, Bartolomeo Caporali and Gino De Dominicis, Duccio di Boninsegna and Lucio Fontana, Cataluccio da Todi and Marisa Merz, Gentile da Fabriano and Michelangelo Pistoletto, Maestro della Madonna di Perugia and Carol Rama, all seduced by the magic of gold and united across centuries by the same formal and aesthetic pursuit. Six dialogues between ancient and modern art that, in the name of the use of gold, restore a fundamental chapter of Italian art, showcasing the authentic DNA of universal beauty, beyond time. Technical, aesthetic, and conceptual resonances open up new comparisons, suggestions, and perspectives, unveiling new horizons of interpretation.

In the Golden Way – La Via dell’oro, the golden masterpieces of the National Gallery of Umbria meet Contemporary Art, curated by Alessandra Mammì, Veruska Picchiarelli, and Carla Scagliosi, is a superb example of synergy between museums: on one side, the Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, which hosts the exhibition until June 16th, and on the other, the National Museums of Perugia. The exhibition revives the pure pleasure of art history: each pairing, through in-depth studies based on types of artifacts, tools, and methods of production in their continuity or discontinuity over time, or on the symbolic meanings of a material that has marked millennia of intellectual history, explores the hidden meaning of one of the most mysterious and profound languages of art. The presence of gold in a work is never merely a formal solution but belongs to a more complex realm that inevitably refers to sacred imagery, the gold background of the icon, a transcendent space. A choice that, beyond any decorative effect, after its debut in medieval times, returns with a different sign but the same intensity in the works of contemporary artists, well aware of the eternal symbolic power of this exceptional material.