Lasting influence of Classical aesthetic revealed in ‘Visions of Antiquity’

ST. LOUIS, March 10, 2026—An upcoming free exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum examines the power and persistence of Greek and Roman antiquity in art. “Visions of Antiquity” features works from 1500 to the present, tracing how myths and ancient forms have been reused to tell new stories. 

The exhibition—featuring prints, paintings, drawings, photographs, textiles and sculpture—draws from SLAM’s collection to reveal just how often artists have returned to classical aesthetics shaped over centuries. Rooted in an idealized vision of ancient Greece and Rome, this style carried with it assumptions about cultural authority, beauty and permanence. “Visions of Antiquity” opens April 10. It is on view through Oct. 18 in Gallery 235 and Sidney S. and Sadie M. Cohen Gallery 234. 

“Visions of Antiquity” invites visitors to look both through history and against it. A bronze statue of the goddess Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, originally conceived at monumental scale to crown Madison Square Garden in New York, exemplifies how classical imagery was used to transform public space. In another example, a 16th-century Roman print depicts Pasquino, one of the city’s so-called speaking statues, long used as a site for anonymous public commentary. Still visible in Rome today, the fragmented figure remains a reminder of how sculpture can serve as a platform for collective voice. 

“These layered narratives create both a playground for artists and a rewarding challenge for viewers,” said Clare Kobasa, associate curator of prints, drawings, and photographs who curated the exhibition. “Across distances of time and place, the exhibition asks: Where do our ideas of the past come from—and who shapes them? In tracing the space between imagination and material evidence, the works on view reveal how artists return to history, not to replicate it but to remake it, often from strikingly different perspectives.” 

Rather than organizing works by strict geography or chronology, the exhibition brings them together around shared thematic concerns—“Knowledge and Order,” “Triumph and Tragedy” and “Remnants and Ruins.” This approach highlights the tangled processes through which the past is continually rediscovered—from literal archaeological sites such as Pompeii, buried by volcanic ash in 79 CE and unearthed centuries later, to more-recent scholarly efforts to acknowledge the multicultural complexity of ancient Greek and Roman societies. 

Offering a compelling counterpoint, one of the two exhibition galleries will feature a contemporary film by Sin Wai Kin. Created during a residency at the Fondazione Memmo in Rome, the work follows the figures of the Storyteller and Change through palaces and gardens across the city. As language appears in unexpected places, and familiar settings subtly shift, viewers are encouraged to consider how material history and storytelling shape one another. 

“Visions of Antiquity” opens for museum members on Thursday, April 9 with a lecture at 6 pm. It opens to the public the following day with an opening celebration featuring music and a cash bar in Sculpture Hall. For more information on related programs, visit slam.org/events. 

CONTACT: Molly Morris, molly.morris@slam.org, 314.655.5250