Salvatore Settis presents the exhibition “The Story of a Gesture”

Salvatore Settis guides visitors through the exhibition Storia di un gesto. Il mito di Meleagro dall’arte classica a Warburg, a Picasso (The Story of a Gesture. The Myth of Meleager from Classical Art to Warburg and Picasso), on view at Fondazione Luigi Rovati until 4 October.

Starting from the extraordinary reunification of a second-century AD Roman sarcophagus dedicated to the myth of Meleager, and through Aby Warburg’s reflections in the Bilderatlas Mnemosyne, the exhibition traces the history of a gesture of despair – a figure with arms thrown backwards – that spans more than two thousand years of visual culture: from Roman sarcophagi to Nicola Pisano and Giotto, and ultimately to Pablo Picasso.

A journey through archaeology, art history and image theory, exploring how forms and meanings are transmitted, transformed and re-emerge across time.