Presentation of the exhibition: “Baroque. The Great Theater of Ideas” Forlì, Museo Civico San Domenico, February 21 – June 28, 2026.
Conceived and organized by the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì in collaboration with the Comune di Forlì, the exhibition proposes a journey through ideas and images that shaped the Baroque through about 200 masterpieces, highlighting the relationship between art, power, faith, science, and society in one of the most complex and fascinating periods of European history.
With the Baroque, art ceases to be a simple representation and becomes a construction of reality. Space expands, surfaces open up, and light becomes active matter.
The artwork is no longer just an object to be contemplated, but an experience that involves, persuades, and orients. The image enters public life, becoming a tool of persuasion and governance, a measure of the visible and a machine of vision.
It is in this transition that the Western image acquires a new self-awareness: no longer a measure of order, but energy in tension.
One of the sections of the exhibition is dedicated to furnishings and decorative styles, through which Baroque spectacularity penetrates aristocratic interiors, transforming furniture into true miniature theatrical architecture.
Here, the mirror and console from the early 18th century, carved for the Fulcis family and lent for the exhibition by the Museo Civico di Belluno, are also exhibited.
ENRICO COLLE
After attending courses in Art History at the University of Florence and Venice where he graduated, Enrico Colle specialized in the field of decorative arts and focused his studies on furnishings and art objects of the former Italian royal residences, aiming for a more accurate museographic display.
His contributions have appeared in various magazines and exhibition catalogs, while, on behalf of the publisher Electa, he has curated a series on decorative arts, publishing volumes on Italian furniture from the Baroque to the 19th century.
He was also the creator and director of the Italian magazine dedicated to decorative arts, DecArt, published by CentroDi editions.
He currently directs the Stibbert Museum in Florence.
Free admission - reservation required: prenotazionimuseo@comune.belluno.it
