Pasolini in Chiaroscuro - 29 March / 29 September - Villa Sauber

Charles de Meaux

Two voices in the murky light, 2024

A Nouveau Musée National de Monaco production

© Government Communication Department / Frédéric Nebinger

The exhibition at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco – Villa Sauber looks at the influence of classical and contemporary painting on the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini. “Pasolini in Chiaroscuro” brings together a variety of work, including film clips, paintings, drawings, installations and photography from the 16th century to today. It finishes with works by other artists who paid tribute to Pasolini.

A half-century on from his death, the influence of Pier Paolo Pasolini can still be felt across the different fields in which he worked: he is read, quoted, commented on, adapted, and inspires artists today. While he preferred to define himself as a writer, it was his films that brought him to the public’s attention. Cinema, the perfect sounding board for his political ideas, occupies a central place in his oeuvre.

This is the main focus of the exhibition, which juxtaposes clips from Accattone, Théorème, Salò and others with paintings by Pontormo, Pieter Claesz, Giorgio Morandi, Fernand Léger and Francis Bacon.

Pasolini in Chiaroscuro also shows how the writer-director symmetrically inspired his successors. It brings together around 30 artists from around the world, many of whom worked on his films: Adel Abdessemed, Giulia Andreani, Tom Burr, Adam Chodzko, Clara Cornu, Walter Dahn, Regina Demina, Marlene Dumas, Richard Dumas, Cerith Wyn Evans, Laurent Fiévet, Alain Fleischer, Claire Fontaine, Giovanni Fontana, Jenny Holzer, William Kentridge, Astrid Klein, Stéphane Mandelbaum, Martial, Fabio Mauri, Charles de Meaux, Dino Pedriali, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Giuseppe Stampone, Jean-Luc Verna, Francesco Vezzoli and John Waters.