'Invitation with Michelangelo - Berlinde De Bruyckere'

Berlinde De Bruyckere opens Invitation with Michelangelo, a new contemporary art programme at Florence’s Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, curated by Carlo Falciani. As the first artist invited to take part, De Bruyckere responds to Michelangelo’s River God, an unusually fragile, fragmented figure constructed from raw clay, river sand, animal hair and other materials. The encounter draws a striking line between Michelangelo’s expressive treatment of the body and De Bruyckere’s own visceral sculptural language, connecting Florentine and Flemish traditions across five centuries.