Gianni Berengo Gardin's Final Exhibition Opens in Perugia

A posthumous exhibition of Gianni Berengo Gardin's work has opened at the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia, just weeks after the photographer's death in Genoa at age 95. The show, curated by Alessandra Mauro, presents a selection of black-and-white photographs documenting Giorgio Morandi's studio in Bologna before it was dismantled in 1993. Berengo Gardin was the last photographer to capture the space, and during the shoot, he discovered a hidden storeroom filled with objects that appear in Morandi's paintings. The exhibition is part of a series dedicated to major photographers that the Umbrian gallery has been running since summer 2024. It includes two paintings by Morandi alongside the photographs, inviting visitors to identify which objects appear in both. Berengo Gardin's images, taken with his Leica, are described as documentary and unpretentious, capturing the studio's furniture, personal details, and the seemingly inanimate objects—jugs, glasses, bowls, dried flowers—that Morandi transformed into living presences in his work. The exhibition is presented as a small, intimate experience, akin to a spiritual testament.