Beato Angelico in Florence: the Palazzo Strozzi Opening Becomes a Collective Experience
Florence has unveiled the long-awaited Beato Angelico, the major new exhibition presented by the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco, with two exclusive evenings staged in the palazzo’s courtyard and interior spaces. The intimate opening welcomed institutions, gallerists, curators, and a host of international guests. Among them, alongside host Arturo Galansino, Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, were Maria Manetti Sherm, Amanda Platek, Carl Brandon Strehlke, Luigi De Siervo, Mario Cristiani, Antoine Platteau, Thomas Clevent Salomon, Giuseppe Caprotti, Christian Levett, and Stefano Collicelli Cagol. All came together to celebrate a project that goes far beyond a traditional exhibition. The atmosphere was elegant yet unpretentious, blending toasts, brief speeches, and that shared sense of participating in something truly special.
Curated by Carl Brandon Strehlke with Stefano Casciu and Angelo Tartuferi, the exhibition repositions Florence at the heart of the Quattrocento discourse, offering a journey across two venues—Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco—and placing a superstar of the period, Beato Angelico, in dialogue with key figures such as Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Michelozzo. The two exclusive opening nights captured in a few hours the essence of the project: building bridges between public and private, institutions and collectors, the city and the world. At the heart of these gatherings were not just the artworks, but the story of a four-year endeavor that restored masterpieces and reunited altarpieces dispersed for over two centuries. The exhibition marks the return of Beato Angelico to Florence seventy years after the landmark 1955 monograph.
These inaugural events thus served as a prologue: convivial moments that made tangible the idea that culture today is not just about display, but about creating relationships, telling processes, and building community. In a city like Florence, where art and life have always intertwined, this opening will be remembered as the sign of a vibrant beginning, transforming the exhibition into a collective experience that extends beyond the galleries, the works, and the artist’s poetic vision.
Text: Germano D’Acquisto
Photo: Niccolò Campita
Exhibition Views: Beato Angelico, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2025. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
