Sections of Renaissance paintings are mounted onto angular planters across the colourful temporary landscape installed at a Bergamo gallery by Studio Fink (+ slideshow).
Studio Fink's Palma de Vecchio Popup Square was created at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (GAMeC) in northern Italy, to accompany a 100-day exhibition of Renaissance paintings by Italian artist Palma il Vecchio.
The paintings have been brought together on loan from international institutions including the National Gallery in London, the Hermitage in St Petersburg and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as major Italian museums including the Uffizi in Florence, the Galleria Borghese in Rome, and the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.
Led by artist Peter Fink, the studio transformed the museum's "bleak, unforgiving" concrete courtyard into a brightly coloured landscape using astroturf.
Influenced by the vibrant hues in Palma il Vecchio's paintings, Fink wanted to create a space for visitors to interact before and after seeing the exhibition.
The enclosed area is divided into two main sections coloured blue and orange, while pink planters covered in the same material are dotted around the space.
Copies of portions of some of the most recognisable paintings in the exhibition are mounted on the angled sides of these raised elements.
"The free flowing use of colour is contrasted with enlarged details of drapery depictions taken from Palma de Vecchio paintings, as well as with details of some of the faces seen in favourite subjects of the so-called Holy Conversations that depict mythological and allegorical subjects as conversations in extraordinary landscapes," said Fink.
The orange area is raised slightly higher than the blue section, connected by a set of shallow steps and a gentle slope.
The museum's cafe – housed in an existing pavilion – spills out onto the orange turf with white tables and chairs provided for al-fresco dining.
Small pink stools offer additional seating, and visitors are also encouraged to rest on the sides of the planters.
Photography is by Leonardo Tagliabue.
Project credits:
Client : GAMeC
Lead Design: Studio Fink, Peter Fink + Richard Marfiak
Planting: StudioGPT, Lucia Nusiner
Lighting: Maurizio Quargnale