Six Contemporary Takes on Leonardo's Last Supper at Fondazione Stelline

The group exhibition 'L’Ultima cena dopo Leonardo' at Fondazione Stelline in Milan presents six contemporary variations on Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. Curator Demetrio Paparoni notes in the catalogue that reinterpretations of the Last Supper have only emerged since the 1950s. The show avoids didacticism through an accumulative installation. Anish Kapoor opens with two recent works where color and matter become symbolic flesh; one piece evokes a shroud and the table of the Cenacolo. Nicola Samorì offers the most iconoclastic direct transformation, with Christ's image folding into absence while remaining faithful to old master painting. Robert Longo presents a large black-and-white detail that questions mediated perception of universally known icons. Wang Guangyi's monumental 16-meter painting spans nearly an entire room, blending solidity and evanescence with Chinese calligraphic contours. Yue Minjun replaces the apostles with numbers, reflecting on digitalization and cultural stereotypes. Masbedo's video focuses on restorer Pinin Brambilla Barcilon, who worked on the original for 22 years; her hands are filmed as ritualistic carriers of the masterpiece's aura.