Known as a venue with exceptional exhibitions dedicated to Renaissance artists such as Luca Signorelli, Perugino, Piero della Francesca, to name just a few, the National Gallery of Umbria now opens its door to contemporary art with the exhibition of Bizhan Bassiri, ‘La Reserva Aurea del Pensiero Magmatico’, in which, once again, the artist’s fundamental themes are elaborated. Many of the works on display represent a renewed encounter between light, thought and emotion, yet there are many new elements as well in this exhibition/performance. Following the path of gold, the Serpi Auree make their way from the Podiani Room, the hub of the exhibition, into the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, dialoguing with the works of the past.

“In the golden reserve of magmatic thought, light takes shape and the body is lost in light.” (Bassiri)

This can be understood by visitors to the Perugia museum who, accompanied by the light of the gold, experience the museum’s masterpieces in a new way, witnesses to a fascinating mingling of the ancient and the contemporary.

“Through each of his works with their diverse morphologies – Erme, Serpente, Sarcofago, Specchi solari, Meteoriti, and Evaporazioni – Bassiri associates himself with the grand iconographic tradition represented in Umbria’s foremost museum of historical art, questioning with his works the historic and linguistic tradition of his art and the active value of the art of the past. A pervasive feeling of circular contemporaneity is established between the viewer, the works of the living artist and those of artists consigned to history. After the important thematic exhibition ‘La Caduta delle Meteoriti’ held in the Museo Archeologico of Venice in 2011, where Bassiri’s work appeared dialectically with important examples of classic Greek and Hellenistic sculptures, this new episode in the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria effectively confirms the quality of one of the most important sculptural experiences in Italy and Europe.” (Bruno Corà)