December 2011 sees the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of Linea d’ombra, an enterprise
created by Marco Goldin in 1996 dedicated to the organization of art exhibitions. In fifteen years
of activity, Linea d’ombra has collaborated with over 300 museums and institutions worldwide
and has obtained the loan of around 3,000 major paintings, drawings and sculptures. These
works contributed to guaranteeing the overall quality of the exhibitions, acclaimed for their high
standards. In the last fifteen years, over seven million people have seen the exhibitions organized
by Linea d’ombra, often making them the most visited Italian exhibits of the year and among the
most popular worldwide. Dozens of leading scholars, curators and art historians have contributed
essays to the catalogues and have ensured the success of the related international conferences, also
organised by Linea d’ombra.
To celebrate this fifteen birthday, in collaboration with the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di
Rimini and the Fondazione San Marino, Linea d’ombra is holding a major exhibition. In recent years, the Malatestian fortress of Castel Sismondo in Rimini,
designed in the mid-15th century by Filippo Brunelleschi, has been the stunning setting for
exhibitions organized by Linea d’ombra. From 21 January to 3 June 2012, the Castel Sismondo will
host the fifteenth anniversary exhibition. Thanks to the involvement of many of the museums that
have collaborated with Linea d’ombra since 1996, the exhibition has been conceived as a great art
history lesson illustrated by works from the mid-15th to the 20th century and comprehensible to all.
The catalogue will include contributions from some of the world's leading experts.
The exhibition has been organized by highlighting the centuries of greatest splendor of each of the
main countries that have contributed most to the history of art. And within each century, especially
for Italy, the most representative region for the period in question has been selected. For example,
18th-century Italy will be represented by Venetian painting from Canaletto to Guardi, Tiepolo and
Bellotto. And the works of these artists selected for the exhibition enable us to go right to the heart
of their world. So while we have Tuscany and the Veneto for the 16th century, Caravaggism has
been chosen for the 17th century, again simply as an example. In this way the exhibition will offer
an overall view of some of the great figures who have left landmarks in art in the last five centuries
both in Europe and America.
The Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini and the Fondazione San Marino will make crucial
contributions to the project. Consequently, an important section of the exhibition (20th-century
American Painting, organized as completely independent show) will be hosted in the Palazzo
SUMS in the Republic of San Marino, just twenty kilometers from Rimini as it occurred on the
occasion of the exhibition Paris. The Wonderful Years. Impressionism versus Salon (23 October
2010 -27 March 2011).
The quality of the exhibition will be guaranteed by the collaboration with the two foundations and
Linea d’ombra's role in the organization.
A major role will be eventually played by the municipalities Linea d'ombra has often cooperated
with during the last fifteen years. Brescia, Genoa, Turin, Treviso and Rimini among others, will
be asked to participate through the loan of some works from their collection perfectly included in
the exhibition path, in order to seal a past or present collaboration and to highlight the talent of the
painters who come from those territories.
THE CONTEXTS OF THE EXHIBITION:
1. Venetian Painting in the 15th and 16th centuries
2. Italian Painting in the 16th and 17th centuries
3. The18th century Venetian Painting
4. The Siglo de Oro - Spain's Golden Age
5. The Dutch Golden Age
6. The Impressionism Movement
7. British Painting between the 18th and 19th centuries
8. 20th century Painting in Europe
