Adrian Ghenie's 'Capricci romani' at Palazzo Poli: Rome Through the Capriccio

From September 25 to November 15, 2026, Palazzo Poli in Rome hosts 'Adrian Ghenie. Capricci romani', an exhibition of new works on paper and cardboard by the Romanian painter Adrian Ghenie. Curated by Fabio De Chirico and Pier Paolo Pancotto, the show is conceived by Alessandra Borghese and promoted by the Fondazione Ghenie Chapels – Mecenatismo per l’Arte and the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica. Ghenie, born in Baia Mare, Romania, in 1977, is known for his expressionist painting that engages with history and memory. His series of 'capricci' reinterprets Rome not as a monumental city but through its details, stones, aqueducts, and ruins, transforming it into a mental landscape. The works, predominantly in charcoal, involve processes of accumulation and erasure, giving them a painterly density. The exhibition also includes a new etching created during a residency at the Istituto's Stamperia, made with calcographers Fabio Ascenzi and Matteo Maria Borsoi, based on a detail from Ghenie's painting of the martyrdom of Padre Pino Puglisi in Palermo. This work will enter the Istituto's permanent collections. The Istituto Centrale per la Grafica holds nearly 24,000 copperplates and about 45,000 historical prints, including a major Piranesi collection. Ghenie's engagement with Rome and its ruins reflects on the endurance of images and the relationship between past and present, using the capriccio as a contemporary device.