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CHROMOTHERAPIA
Feel-Good Color Photography
28.02 - 09.06.2025
- Artists
- Miles Aldridge
- Erwin Blumenfeld
- Guy Bourdin
- Juno Calypso
- Walter Chandoha
- Harold Edgerton
- Hassan Hajjaj
- Hiro
- Ouka Leele
- Madame Yevonde
- Arnold Odermatt
- Ruth Ginika Ossai
- Martin Parr
- Pierre et Gilles
- Alex Prager
- Adrienne Raquel
- Sandy Skoglund
- Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)
- William Wegman
- Curators
- Maurizio Cattelan
- Sam Stourdzé
Lemon yellow, electric blue, bright red, and sunny orange: color as therapy. That’s the vitamin-rich program of the CHROMOTHERAPIA exhibition!
The show invites us to explore another history of color photography over the whole course of the twentieth century, through the zestful gaze of 19 artists. The tour, in seven chapters, leads us into vibrant, saturated worlds where colour strikes the retina and engages the mind.
Often disparaged and rarely taken seriously, color photography has nevertheless allowed photographers to let their hair down, take out their palettes, and repaint the world. Many have freed themselves from the documentary function of the photographic medium to explore the common roots of the image and the imaginary, flirting with pop art, surrealism, bling, kitsch, and the baroque.
The conquest of color in photography closely followed the invention of the medium, with the first scientific experiments taking place in the mid-19th century. In 1907, the first industrial color photographic emerged with the autochrome, created by the Lumière brothers. This ushered in a century of chromatic experimentation: from ordinary scenes to philosophical and political reflections, color transcended the status of a mere tool and became a central narrative element.
Whether magnifying the details of an everyday scene, redefining codes of beauty in magazines, or capturing committed subjects, color photography offers an intensely chromatic vision of the world. This diversity of gazes and practices bears witness to a common thread: the desire to make us see things differently, by infusing images with the life and emotion that only color can convey.
The exhibition is accompanied by a photographic book Chromotherapia, Feel-Good Color Photography edited by Damiani Books and the Villa Medici.
The exhibition in 7 chapters
EARLY BIRDS
Erwin Blumenfeld, Harold Edgerton, Madame Yevonde and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)
RAINING CATS AND DOGS
Walter Chandoha, William Wegman and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)
GLOSSY
Guy Bourdin, Hiro and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)
FEMME FATALE
Adrienne Raquel, Miles Aldridge, Juno Calypso, Alex Prager and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)
STRANGER THINGS
Arnold Odermatt, Sandy Skoglund
FOODORAMA
Martin Parr and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)
MAKE A FACE
Hassan Hajjaj, Ouka Leele, Pierre et Gilles, Ruth Ginika Ossai and Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)
Walter Chandoha, New Jersey 1962 © Walter Chandoha Archive
On the left: Wallpaper by Toiletpaper, TP Magazine No.12, 2016, Photo contribution to Zeit Magazine, Courtesy of Toiletpaper
On the right: Wallpaper by Toiletpaper, Cover TP calendar, 2018, Courtesy of Toiletpaper
On the left: Wallpaper by Toiletpaper, TP magazine No.9, 2014, Courtesy of Toiletpaper
On the right: Foodorama, © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos
On the left: Hassan Hajjaj, Jenny Bikin', framed photograph by ©Hassan Hajjaj, 2015
On the right: Hassan Hajjaj, Jamie Jones, framed photograph by ©Hassan Hajjaj, 2019/1440, Courtesy of Jamie Jones, 193 Gallery, Paris/France & Hassan Hajjaj studio
On the left: Juno Calypso, Chicken dogs, 2015, © Juno Calypso, Courtesy of the artist and TJ Boulting
In the center: Juno Calypso, If you can't live without me, why aren't you dead yet?, 2016, © Juno Calypso, Courtesy of the artist and TJ Boulting
On the right: Juno Calypso, Reconstituted meat slices, 2013, © Juno Calypso, Courtesy of the artist and TJ Boulting
Wallpaper by Toiletpaper, TP magazine No.10, 2014, Photo contribution for M Le Magazine du Monde, Courtesy of Toiletpaper
Framed photograph by Harold Edgerton, Parrot at Catalina Island Bird Museum, 1947 © Harold Edgerton/MIT, Courtesy of Palm Press, Inc.
In the background: Wallpaper by Toiletpaper, TP magazine No.14, 2017, Photo contribution for Zeit Magazine, Courtesy of Toiletpaper
Framed photograph: Guy Bourdin, Vogue Paris, May 1970, © The Guy Bourdin Estate 2025. Courtesy of Louise Alexander Gallery
Pierre et Gilles, David (Luca Wegan), 2021, © Pierre et Gilles, Courtesy Templon, Paris, Brussels, New York
Alex Prager, Hollywood (Exit) 2024, © Alex Prager, Courtesy Alex Prager Studio and Lehmann
Maupin, New York, Seoul and London
Practical information
Date: from February 28, 2025, to June 9, 2025
Opening hours: from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM every day, except Tuesday (closed)
Price: €10 / €8 / €2
Maurizio Cattelan
Maurizio Cattelan is one of the foremost Italian artists on the contemporary art scene. For more than thirty years, his works have been highlighting the paradoxes of society and putting forward an incisive reflection on political and cultural scenarios. Using iconic images and caustic visual language, his creations arouse lively public debate, encouraging the spirit of collective participation.
Portrait © Pierpaolo Ferrari
Sam Stourdzé
Sam Stourdzé specializes in contemporary images and the relationship between art, photography, and film. He has curated numerous exhibitions and is the author of several seminal books. Since 2020 he has been the Director of the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, of which he is a former fellow. Previously, he directed the Rencontres d’Arles and the Musée de l’Élysée in Lausanne, and was editor-in-chief of the photography magazine ELSE.
Portrait © Daniele Molajoli
