Engaging with the perception of two colors—blue and gold—within the Museo dei Bronzi Dorati in Pergola inevitably raises questions and reflections on the significance these hues have held in artistic imagination since the dawn of modernity.

Every hall of the museum serves as a reminder that gold and blue are foundational elements of Western and Christian iconography. These colors have become inextricably intertwined with visual and decorative influences stemming from constant exchanges with both the Near and Far East. Gold represents light, the encounter with the Divine; blue is the sky that shelters us, the mantle draping the Virgin’s body. Gold and blue are also matter itself, in their most precious and rare form. Their interplay creates a continuous tension—between the immutability of the sacred and the fluidity of the infinite, between power and the expressive force of the body. In this dialogue with tradition and art history, the works selected for the exhibition project L’Oro Blu add new interpretations and meanings to these iconographic readings.

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The reference to these two colors in this exhibition is deeply rooted in the museum’s context: gold recalls the encounter with the Bronzi Dorati, a unique sculptural masterpiece, while blue refers to the traditional processing of Isatis tinctoria, commonly known as woad, which was historically produced in this region. Renowned masters and emerging talents have engaged with the museum’s setting through their works, demonstrating the universality of artistic language—expressing a shared creative sensibility that transcends time and geography. L’Oro Blu presents a diverse exhibition journey that blends multiple media and artistic languages, from sculpture and painting to installation, photography, video, sound art, and performance.

The central courtyard of the Ex Convent of San Giacomo hosted the exhibition’s core, introduced by Oro Ossidazione by Luigi Carboni, a monumental golden artwork that entered into dialogue with Scavi Superficiali by Franco Guerzoni, which reconnected to the exhibition’s conceptual link with woad blue. The cloister was enriched by a permanent intervention by Angelo Bellobono—as well as Rocco Dubbini’s work on the museum’s exterior façade—both engaging with the fragility of a landscape severely affected by the 2022 flood. Nature’s uncontrollable and ever-changing force is echoed in the majestic storm captured by Paola De Pietri’s photograph, displayed in the first section of the exhibition. Here, De Pietri’s nighttime landscape, charged with electrostatic energy, contrasts with the dreamy daytime sky of Nobuyoshi Araki.

Air takes shape as words and energy in Mi libro by Gea Casolaro, while her second work in the exhibition, Presente Assente, turns to a denied sky, representing the prison of existential suffering. The delicate balance between humanity and nature is a central theme in Christo’s career, represented here through one of his preparatory projects for the monumental wrapping of Little Bay, Australia. The interplay between landscape and human intervention continues in the work of Anne & Patrick Poirier, who explore archaeology and utopian worlds where humanity becomes the architect of a new nature. The way humans mark the earth, creating boundaries that lead to conflict, is powerfully evoked in Alighiero Boetti’s Dodici forme dal 10 giugno 1967. Agnese Purgatorio’s video work also addresses the theme of violated rights: her blue is the color of the burqa worn by Afghan women, a silent witness to a millennia-old culture reduced to submission. Vettor Pisani and Giulio Paolini, meanwhile, reflect on blue’s significance in art history, referencing Böcklin and Manet in their works.

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The exhibition continues along the cloister, where Ivana Spinelli’s golden pin-ups—figures intertwining references to antiquity, pop culture, and contemporary themes—contrast with the deep blues in works by Domenico Grenci, Alessandro Saturno, and Marco Emmanuele. Among them, Sissi Daniela Olivieri’s Venoso di Mare links blue to a physical, anatomical, and visceral dimension, connected to human emotions. Virginia Zanetti and Giovanni Gaggia bring the gold-blue dialogue into the socio-political realm, drawing inspiration from Renaissance painting while addressing pressing contemporary issues such as migration and the Palestinian conflict. Assemic Gold by Greta Schödl takes an intimate approach, where the act of writing becomes a metaphor for personal storytelling.

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In the adjacent Pinacoteca halls, the dialogue between past and present gains strength through works by Flavio Favelli, David Casini, and Simone Berti, introduced by Marina Gasparini’s large textile drawing inspired by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli’s engravings on the myth of abundance. The interplay between sculpture and painting continues in the next hall with pieces by Ivano Troisi, Mattia Sugamiele, and Lorenza Boisi: Troisi’s sculpture connects to the natural world, while Sugamiele’s diptych, playful and pop-inspired, explores our relationship with technology. Boisi redirects attention to painting as a medium capable of merging tradition and innovation.

The Roman Hall focuses on the relationship between mosaic technique and contemporary art, showcasing works by Diego Miguel Mirabella, Davide Maria Coltro, Marta Roberti, and Giulia Marchi, who reinterpret classical decorative traditions through new media and conceptual approaches. For the first time in the museum’s history, the Hall of the Bronzi Dorati engages with the exhibition’s contemporary context, hosting a site-specific intervention by Francesco Gennari. This internationally recognized artist, originally from the Marche region, revisits the concept of the icon and the power of imagery.

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The exhibition concludes with works by Aleksander Petkov, Daniele Di Girolamo, and Alex Urso, where blue and gold take on meanings of uncertainty—material, intimate, communicative, and social—offering a poignant reflection on today’s increasingly complex and precarious world.