On 16 December, «Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum», an exhibition that brings together the works of visual art of one of the most important icons of contemporary world culture, opens at the Maxxi National Museum of 21st Century Arts.
After the exhibition at the Mam in Shanghai and at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum in Miami, the exhibition curated by Shai Baitel arrives in Rome, the first European stop, in a completely redesigned version to interact with the dynamic and futuristic spaces of Zaha’s Maxxi Hadid. On display over 100 works including paintings, watercolors, ink and graphite drawings, metal sculptures, video material, which explore over 60 years of Bob Dylan’s creative activity. Dylan himself says: «It is very gratifying to know that my visual works will be exhibited at the Maxxi, in Rome: a truly special museum in one of the most beautiful and inspiring cities in the world. This exhibition aims to offer different points of view, which examine the human condition and explore those mysteries of life that continue to perplex us. It is very different from my music, of course, but it has the same intent ».
“Piazza di Spagna, my masterpiece”
«Musician, composer, poet, Nobel Prize for literature – comments Giovanna Melandri, president of the Maxxi Foundation – Bob Dylan is an absolute myth, one of the most important cultural icons of our time. With this exhibition, we will have the privilege of discovering an unprecedented aspect of his inexhaustible talent: his paintings, like his songs, are powerful, sincere, immediate, evoking journeys and suggestions on the road. Dylan is a piece of our history and a part of us, which is why I am particularly pleased with this exhibition at the Maxxi which tells us in its entirety and tells us ».
The curator
«This exhibition, which spans Bob Dylan’s entire career – adds curator Shai Baitel – presents his unique approach to visual art and his mastery of painting, drawing and sculpture. It offers the unique opportunity to see Dylan’s creative journey through time and places, including the Spanish Steps, immortalized in the work “When I paint my masterpiece” ».