Inside the Mint Museum’s Caravaggio exhibit bringing all the drama to Charlotte
The Mint Museum is bringing a blockbuster exhibit to Charlotte, featuring Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio — the legendary Baroque master, art influencer and outlaw. This is a major cultural moment, as his work is credited with changing the direction of painting and continues to influence modern film and art. The exhibit, “Caravaggio | Revolution: Baroque Masterpieces from the Roberto Longhi Foundation,” opens Sunday, April 26.
Dark gray gallery walls highlight the emotions in each of the roughly 40 paintings in the exhibition centered on Caravaggio and works by artists inspired by him.
Caravaggio captured the immediacy that had been missing in classic works, Mint CEO Todd Herman said Thursday during a media preview of the exhibition.
“When you think about Caravaggio’s paintings, the emotional quality and realism in them was meant to inspire emotion in the viewer,” Herman said. “He captured a whole different moment, a whole different energy, and it just could not be denied.”
The collection coming from Longhi’s collection in Florence, Italy, showcases the details and power of Caravaggio’s style that contrasts darkness and light to create emotional intensity.
Get a close-up look at Matthias Stom’s “Annunciation of the Birth of Samson” (c. 1630–1632), an oil-on-canvas painting, that depicts the appearance of an angel and focused lighting on the figures faces.
It’s that radical realism that transformed not only painting, but modern film and photography, Herman said.
The exhibit also sheds light on the artist’s personal life that was just as dramatic as his works. He became a larger than life figure partly because of his biography and in addition to his rough lifestyle. “He was a conflict in many ways,” Herman said.
Here are five more key things to know about the show:
The exhibit is a first for the US
The centerpiece of the exhibit is the rare circa 1597 oil on canvas painting, “Boy Bitten by a Lizard.” It’s one of fewer than 80 works attributed to Caravaggio. This is the first time the painting is on view in the U.S. Mint Museum CEO Todd Herman called having the painting a “real coup.”
Caravaggio is the OG art influencer
Caravaggio is considered one of the top-tier artists in Western art history and practically invented the theatrical Baroque style. He introduced chiaroscuro lighting — the dramatic use of light and shadow — that created atmospheric, high-drama scenes. His revolutionary work inspired artists like Rembrandt and continues to influence modern filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, and even the music video for R.E.M.’s 1991 hit “Losing My Religion.”
This Caravaggio exhibit is exclusive
Securing the show was a major undertaking, with the Mint raising money in the “high six figures” to borrow the 40 paintings from the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence, Italy. Due to strict Italian government legal constraints, the collection is only visiting two U.S. venues at the Mint and previously, Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, where it debuted.
Caravaggio was a fugitive, not just a painter
Caravaggio lived a short, tumultuous life and had a notorious reputation. He painted for less than 20 years, as he was often on the run after killing a man in a street brawl in 1606. He was convicted and sentenced to death in absentia, and remained a fugitive until his death at age 38.
How to see the Caravaggio exhibition in Charlotte
“Caravaggio | Revolution: Baroque Masterpieces from the Roberto Longhi Foundation” runs April 26-Oct. 25 at Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St., Charlotte. Admission is $10, on top of the regular $15 museum pricing.
Bonus feature: See Caravaggio’s influence on films
In partnership with the Mint’s exhibition, Independent Picture House is running the film series, “Chiaroscuro: Films of Light and Shadow.”
The film lineup is:
- April 28: “Citizen Kane,” 1941, drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz.
- June 16: “Mean Streets,” 1973, crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, from a screenplay co-written with Mardik Martin.
- July 28: “Blade Runner,” 1982, science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples.
- Sept. 11: “Fight Club,” 1999, directed by David Fincher, and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter.
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