Giorgio de Chirico, Italian (born Greece), 1888–1978; The Transformed Dream, 1913; oil on canvas; 25 x 59 3/4 inches, framed: 32 3/4 x 67 5/8 x 4 1/8 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer Jr. 313:1951
Visions of Antiquity
April 10–October 18, 2026- Location
- Gallery 235 and Sidney S. and Sadie M. Cohen Gallery 234
- Admission
- Free
Visions of Antiquity explores the power and persistence of Greek and Roman antiquity in art, with works ranging from 1500 to the present. Organized into three broad sections—“Knowledge and Order,” “Triumph and Tragedy,” and “Remnants and Ruins”—the exhibition takes a thematic approach to the role of antiquity as a source of inspiration and as a challenge for artists and viewers.
With works that reflect a variety of techniques, materials, and practices, the exhibition invites visitors into a wide world of artistic response. Works in the exhibition question notions of classical order and draw attention to the fantasies and anxieties generated in these constructions of memory. The resulting visual cacophony testifies to the many ways that what came before can be continually worked and reworked to make sense of the present and shape a new future.
Visions of Antiquity is curated by Clare Kobasa, associate curator of prints, drawings, and photographs.
Ugo da Carpi, Italian, c.1480–1532; Diogenes, c.1527–30; chiaroscuro woodcut; image: 19 x 13 7/8 inches, sheet (trimmed to image): 19 x 13 7/8 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 23:1984