Photography has the power to reveal the hidden aspects of artistic masterpieces and showcase their splendour, as well as the artistic vision and creative process behind their creation. This is certainly true of the images created by Aurelio Amendola over the course of his sixty-year career. The Aurelio Amendola Capolavori fotografati. Burri, Vedova, Nitsch, Duomo di Milano, Bernini, Canova, Michelangelo exhibition at Palazzo Reale in Milan offers a chance to see 85 of his large-format photographs taken between 1976 and 2025 up close. And the experience is akin to physically sensing the texture and, at times, the apparent softness of the marble.
These images embody the genuine dialogue between Aurelio Amendola and some of the key figures in art history, as captured through the medium of photography: from the sculptures by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) and Antonio Canova (1757–1822) to the contemporary period, with Alberto Burri (1915–1995), Emilio Vedova (1919–2006) and Hermann Nitsch (1938–2022).
Thirty years on from his solo exhibition Cappelle Medicee, Aurelio Amendola returns to Palazzo Reale with “historic” and recent images, as well as previously unseen photographs, such as those dedicated to Milan Cathedral (nine photographs taken in 2009 will be exhibited for the first time on this occasion). Interestingly, there is an immediate connection between Amendola’s view and that of every visitor, who can instantly compare it with their own. This is because the Duomo, with its pinkish-white marble, stands directly opposite the exhibition venue. It is a sort of interplay of reflections between the depicted and the real subject.
Through Amendola’s lens, marble reveals the myriad ways in which artists have perceived and worked with it. The marble retains traces of the sculptor’s touch, revealing its living, vibrant nature. This is precisely how Amendola treats it, extracting ‘new’ artworks from masterpieces and using light to impart new sensations, volumes and sensibilities. It thus highlights perspectives and details, offering fresh views of the various sculptural groups. These include the Ratto di Proserpina (1621–1622) by Bernini, the delicacy of time suspended in the embrace between Amore e Psiche (1787–1793) by Canova, and the profound gaze of the statue of Giuliano de’ Medici, created by Michelangelo for the Cappelle Medicee in Sagrestia Nuova in Florence (1521–1534).
Contemporary art is presented with the same mastery, which enables you to understand how the artists’ work takes shape. This is how he describes the “azioni rosso sangue” created by Hermann Nitsch at Prinzendorf Castle in 2012, distilling the essence of his practice into a narrative that offers new perspectives on the performative dimension that characterises his actions.
In 1976, in Città di Castello, Amendola produced a series of photographs of Alberto Burri’s Combustioni, capturing the artist in the act of burning a plastic surface and altering its ‘materia’.
His desire to understand how Burri produced his Combustioni led him to create images that reveal the creative process, in which mechanical and spontaneous gestures give shape to some of his most iconic works.
And the photographs dedicated to Emilio Vedova reveal the generative vortex of his art, which is particularly evident in the large circular works. Vedova is depicted moving through the space of his studio as if it were a field of action, with his body becoming the matrix of the pictorial mark.
“Amendola, who was the last photographer to take a portrait of Andy Warhol and the first to exhibit at the Hermitage with ‘his’ Michelangelo, used to explain that throughout his career he had done nothing but follow two pieces of advice he had received at the beginning of his career from the sculptor Marino Marini: make the sculptures ‘speak’ through light and show people what they cannot see”, Domenico Piraina, Direttore Cultura and Direttore del Palazzo Reale, Milano, says.
The exhibition is promoted by the Municipality of Milan Culture and produced by Palazzo Reale, in collaboration with Associazione Culturale Building. The exhibition catalogue is published by Skira in a bilingual edition (Italian and English), featuring the work by Aurelio Amendola, a photographer who has traversed the history of art with his camera, transforming light into a narrative. The catalogue includes critical essays by Gianluigi Colin, Vincenzo Trione, Maurizio Calvesi, Marco Meneguzzo, Walter Guadagnini, Bruno Corà, Silvio Ceccato, Giuseppe Frangi, Tomaso Montanari, Sergej Androsov, Antonio Natali, Antonio Scurati and Antonio Paolucci.
Paola Sammartano
Aurelio Amendola. Capolavori fotografati. Burri, Vedova, Nitsch, Duomo di Milano, Bernini, Canova, Michelangelo
From June 16 to September 6, 2026
Palazzo Reale
Piazza del Duomo 12
20122 Milano
https://www.palazzorealemilano.it/
