The IMMAGICA Exhibition: a Journey into Forgotten Forms of Beauty

The Georgian National Museum is currently holding a multimedia technology exhibition "IMMAGICA. A Journey into Beauty" at the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia.

The exhibition presents Italian paintings and sculptures between 14th-19th centuries, including Giotto’s ‘Ognissanti Madonna’ and the ‘Scrovegni Chapel,’ Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Annunciation,’ Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’ and ‘Spring,’ Raffaello’s ‘The Madonna of the Goldfinch,’ Bellotto’s ‘Piazza San Marco’ and ‘Castello Sforzesco,’ Canaletto’s ‘The Chapel of Eton College’ and Canova’s ‘Amor e Psyche’ and ‘The Graces.’

It is a combination of voice, lighting, immersive visual and multimedia. It enables the discovery of art using the most modern technologies; it is a new tool for receiving impressions and broadening knowledge. The images of the artworks are projected on several walls of the exhibition room, each person has headphones with music and a voice that describes the artworks, their meaning and history. It is a great occasion for the public to plunge into some of the most famous and beautiful Renaissance and Neo-classical paintings and sculptures. It is easily understandable and accessible for everyone for its use of precise language from a scientific point of view.

This exhibition is not only a way to re-discover Renaissance subjects such as Venus, Madonna or Greek mythological subjects, but it is also a way to ask ourselves what beauty means and meant at this time.

In the Renaissance and Neo-classical periods, the concept of beauty was at the heart of life and art. Especially during the Renaissance, the main focus of the artists was to come back to ancient subjects and especially to the representation of their bodies. The nude was a must for sculptors and the body was at the heart of the concept of beauty. Beauty was all about order, harmony and grace. The artists tried to find the perfect proportions and often painted bodies as if they were statues. The face was one of the most important things to represent: it had to be symmetrical and perfect. Artists followed very specific rules.

Women were at the heart of the sculptures and paintings; nothing was more sacred than this beauty. Today, it sometimes seems like the concept of beauty has been impoverished and vulgarized and it is interesting to be in contact with the sublimed concept of beauty of this time.

The exhibition will last until July 31.

More information on museum.ge

By Gabrielle Colchen

Image: The Birth of Venus by Botticelli