With 37 works by 25 artists from the Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini and MAXXI an exhibition that creates a dialogue between the work of old masters and contemporary artists on the theme of the portrait and the self-portrait.

From Caravaggio to Giulio Paolini, from Raphael to Richard Serra, from Bernini to Yan Pei Ming, from Piero di Cosimo to Kiki Smith, from Luigi Ontani to Pietro da Cortona, the works recount the themes of temporality, the representation of power, eroticism, the intimate and the exotic.

On show in the 11 new rooms with an area of over 700 m2 and open to the public for the first time, are 21 masterpieces from the collection of the Gallerie Nazionali, in dialogue with 17 contemporary works from MAXXI or loans, with three works realised for the occasion (by Monica Bonvicini, Giulio Paolini and Yinka Shonibare) of which two, Bent and Fused by Bonvicini and The Invisible Man by Shonibare, will be acquired for the MAXXI collection.

The debate continues at MAXXI where, in Gallery 1, La Velata, the 18th century sculpture by Antonio Corradini is on show with VB74 by Vanessa Beecroft, images of the performance staged at MAXXI in 2014 and on display to the public for the first time.