El Dorado is staged in the halls housing the permanent collection of the museum amidst the lush park of Villa Borghese in the so called Fortezzuola, the most intimate space of Pietro Canonica which includes his atelier and private apartment where the Italian sculptor lived and worked from 1927 until his death in 1959.

"As the title of the exhibition El Dorado evokes a promised land, legendary and paradisiacal, rich in treasures and esoteric elements, the "Gold-ground" of the subtitle takes us back to the history of art and to a painting technique that has characterized sacred figuration for centuries since the Middle Ages. The gold-ground, especially in the Eastern icon tradition, stands as a threshold between visible and invisible. It is the breakthrough of pure, supernatural light into the enclosure of the image, the limitless space that makes possible the presence of the divine by transforming the painted surface from a representation to a manifestation of the spiritual in art," says exhibition curator Alessandra Mammì.

After La Vita Nova. L’amore in Dante nello sguardo di 10 artiste, curated by Alessandra Mammì (Museo Barracco – Rome, June-October 2021) the Centro Studi Roccantica is now presenting a new exhibition in a special location in the heart of one of the most beautiful parks of Italy.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, edited by All’Insegna del Mare, featuring texts by Ileana Florescu, Federica Pirani, Alessandra Mammì, Carl Brandon Strehlke and Carla Scicchitano.