Chiara Valerio on Rothko and Beato Angelico at Palazzo Strozzi

In a personal essay published by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, writer Chiara Valerio reflects on the juxtaposition of Mark Rothko's Untitled (1954) and Beato Angelico's Annunciation (c. 1439–1441) in the exhibition 'Rothko a Firenze' at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. Valerio describes a physical shock upon seeing the two works together in the Museo di San Marco, where the Annunciation fresco is permanently housed. She interprets the Annunciation as an ambush of goodness, emphasizing the ambiguity of good versus evil. Drawing on the Gospel of Luke (1:26-35), she notes that the angel Gabriel announces not light but shadow, quoting the verse 'the power of the Most High will overshadow you.' Valerio connects this to Adelbert von Chamisso's 1814 story Peter Schlemihl, where a man sells his shadow, and to Franco Battiato's 1991 song 'L'ombra della luce.' She argues that goodness without shadow resembles evil, and that Rothko's red, vertical painting with a golden shadow at its center retains its blood-red color, holding the Madonna in human light while God's shadow seizes her. The essay is part of a series tied to the exhibition 'Rothko a Firenze,' on view at Palazzo Strozzi in 2026.