Founded in December 1996 from an idea by art historian Marco Goldin, who remains its director, Linea d’Ombra, headquartered in Palazzo dei Forestieri in Treviso, is dedicated to organizing art exhibitions. It provides comprehensive management of an exhibition, from the initial planning stage to its completion, uniquely combining in Italy both scholarly curation and logistical organization.
In addition to curatorial oversight, Linea d’ombra handles the editing and printing of exhibition catalogues under its own publishing imprint, the transport of artworks in collaboration with leading operators in the field, insurance, promotional and advertising activities, secretarial support, and press relations, in partnership with the Esseci Studio in Padua. The agency collaborates with the finest Italian and international scholars, many of whom contributed to its early scientific committees and whose essays appear in the numerous catalogues it has published.
Since its founding, Linea d’ombra has curated and managed numerous prestigious art exhibitions, initially hosted at Casa dei Carraresi in Treviso, the Municipal Gallery of Palazzo Sarcinelli in Conegliano, and Palazzo Crepadona in Belluno, followed by the Promotrice delle Belle Arti in Turin and, from 2004 to 2009, the renovated Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia, as well as the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo and the Castle in the same city. In 2009, Linea d’ombra signed multi-year agreements with the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region for a series of exhibitions (2009–2012) at Villa Manin in Passariano di Codroipo (Udine), with the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini (2009–2012), the Fondazione San Marino (2010–2012), and the Fondazione Palazzo Ducale in Genoa (2010–2012). A significant agreement was also signed in the summer of 2011 with the Fondazione Cariverona and the cities of Vicenza and Verona, allowing the organization of major exhibitions from autumn 2012 to spring 2014 in the extraordinary spaces of the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza, following a five-year restoration, and in the Palazzo della Gran Guardia in Verona.
In the last decade, Linea d’ombra began collaborating in 2013 with the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna, which resulted in the spectacular exhibition La ragazza con l’orecchino di perla at Palazzo Fava (8 February – 25 May 2014). In 2014, an agreement with the Fondazione Teatro Comunale of Vicenza, in collaboration with the Municipality of Vicenza and with support from the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Verona Vicenza Belluno and Ancona, made it possible to realize a major exhibition at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza: Tutankhamon, Caravaggio, Van Gogh. La sera i notturni dagli Egizi al Novecento (24 December 2014 – 2 June 2015).
In September 2015, an agreement with the Municipality of Treviso enabled three exhibitions to be held at the newly renovated Museo Civico di Santa Caterina (29 October 2016 – 1 May 2017). Coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of Linea d’ombra, visitors were able to admire Storie dell’impressionismo. I grandi protagonisti da Monet a Renoir, da Van Gogh a Gauguin: 140 works divided into six sections, presenting a sweeping panorama of the movement that brought a radical revolution to the history of art, the result of twenty years of study by Marco Goldin.
Tiziano, Rubens, Rembrandt was an invaluable dossier-exhibition, as indicated in its subtitle, which aimed to explore L’immagine femminile tra Cinquecento e Seicento attraverso Tre capolavori dalla Scottish National Gallery di Edimburgo. Eventually, fifty-five artists, with as many works, wove together, in Da Guttuso a Vedova a Schifano, the thread of Italian painting in the second half of the 20th century.
In 2018, from 24 February to 3 June, the exhibition Rodin. Un grande scultore al tempo di Monet was held. Thanks to the intervention of Linea d’ombra, its installation at the Museo Santa Caterina also benefited from the newly renovated hypogeal hall, adapted for international exhibition standards. Through 75 works, including all of his masterpieces, the exhibition traced the artistic trajectory of this true genius of French art, who simultaneously revolutionized sculpture in his time and left an indelible mark on the art to come.
In 2017, Linea d’ombra renewed its collaboration with the Municipality of Vicenza, organizing the exhibition Van Gogh. Tra il grano e il cielo (7 October 2017 – 8 April 2018) at the Basilica Palladiana. This exhibition shed unprecedented light on the work of the Dutch genius, covering his entire production from 1880 to 1890, through 129 works, including 43 paintings and 86 essential drawings.
Exhibition activity continued in 2019 with Il tempo di Giacometti. Da Chagall a Kandinsky. Capolavori dalla Fondazione Maeght, held at the Palazzo della Gran Guardia in Verona. This project was made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Fondation Aimé et Marguerite Maeght of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, which lent over seventy works by Giacometti himself, from his most famous sculptures (Walking Man, among others) to drawings and paintings. It was an extraordinary tribute to the principal sculptor of the 20th century and, simultaneously, a superb journey through the finest international 20th-century art. Illustrating the foresight of Aimé Maeght’s collecting activity, twenty works by leading artists he particularly admired and supported were also displayed, representing the Parisian art scene primarily between the two World Wars, from Braque to Chagall, Miró to Kandinsky, Derain to Léger.
During the 2020–2022 season, at the invitation of the Municipality of Padua, Linea d’ombra organized two major new exhibitions in the renovated Centro Culturale Altinate San Gaetano, which also celebrated Linea d’ombra’s twenty-fifth anniversary in 2021. From 10 October 2020 to 6 June 2021, the exhibition VVan Gogh. I colori della vita took place. Featuring ninety works from various lending museums, primarily the Kröller-Müller Museum and the Van Gogh Museum, the exhibition placed Van Gogh in the context of his time, highlighting his relationships with other artists who influenced him. Rather than a strictly monographic vision, the exhibition offered deeper insights into the Dutch master’s life and work, from his two years in the Borinage mines in Belgium, then part of Dutch Brabant, to his French period, which the exhibition examined in depth.
The first chapter of a new, expansive exhibition project conceived by Marco Goldin, Dai Romantici a Segantini (29 January – 5 June 2022), was titled Geografie dell’Europa. TLa trama della pittura tra Ottocento e Novecento. This project presents a broad artistic and historical panorama, tracing the development of painting across Europe during the 19th and part of the 20th centuries, organized by nation or contiguous areas. For the first time in Italy, the exhibition allowed the public to view a significant portion of the extraordinary collection of the Oskar Reinhart Foundation, part of the Kunst Museum network in Winterthur, one of Switzerland’s most important artistic centers. The collection includes, among other works, five magnificent paintings by Friedrich, the true father of Romanticism, all exhibited in Padua.
To date, Linea d’ombra exhibitions have welcomed over 11 million visitors, and more than 10,000 works have been loaned from over 1,000 museums, institutions, and private collections worldwide.