Day for Night: New American Realism

The National Galleries of Ancient Art in Palazzo Barberini present Day for Night: New American Realism, the exhibition dedicated to realism and the representation of truth in contemporary American art. 

The name is inspired by the artwork Day For Night by the New York multimedia artist Lorna Simpson and recalls the cinematographic effect used to film night scenes during daylight hours, called in French la Nuit Américaine (the American night), the title of Francois Truffaut's unforgettable 1973 film, in perfect harmony with the chiaroscuro of the artists who have portrayed the complex American reality of recent decades.

Curated by Massimiliano Gioni and Flaminia Gennari Santori, the exhibition path winds through the twelve galleries for temporary exhibitions, some of the halls of the main floor and the splendid Appartamento del Settecento, rarely open to the public. 

On display are over 150 works by artists such as Cecily Brown, George Condo, Nicole Eisenman, Urs Fischer, Wade Guyton, Julie Mehretu, Richard Prince, Charles Ray, David Salle, Dana Schutz, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Henry Taylor, and Christopher Wool from Tony and Elham Salamé collection from the prestigious Aïshti Foundation of Beirut, in dialogue with the splendid masterpieces of Palazzo Barberini, which houses the largest collection of the so-called "Caravaggeschi" painters, in an evocative encounter between realism and the representation of the reality of the past and present.

Photo: Nate Lowman, Irma, 2022, Oil and alkyd on linen, 228.6 × 320 cm