Renaissance architecture and Anish Kapoor’s iconic sculptures may seem to have little in common. But the team at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy, sees an uncanny connection between the two and has decided to bring them together.

The result is an expansive solo show titled “Untrue Unreal.” It features a vast range of works from across Kapoor’s oeuvre, including those monumental in scale. The show transforms the historic site into a space of contemplation, by inviting audiences to immerse themselves in a realm where the perception of truth becomes an illusion.

“Kapoor has engaged in a direct dialogue with the Renaissance architecture. The result is entirely original, almost a kind of dialectical juxtaposition, where symmetry, harmony, and rigor are called into question, and the boundaries between material and immaterial dissolve,” Arturo Galansino, general director of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation and curator of the exhibition, noted in a statement.

“Amidst the rational geometries of Palazzo Strozzi, Kapoor invites us in this exhibition to lose and rediscover ourselves, prompting us to question what is untrue or unreal.”

The exhibition shines a spotlight on the internationally acclaimed artist’s ongoing experimentation with materiality, space, form, and color, between the galleries at the Piano Nobile and the Renaissance courtyard. Among the highlights include To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red (1981), a signature piece from the earlier stage of Kapoor’s career; Non-Object Black (2015), which challenges viewers’s perception through the use of Vantablack, a material that absorbs more than 99.9 percent of visible light; and Void Pavilion VII (2023), a newly architecturally scaled work conceived for the site’s Renaissance courtyard.

Below are the images of the exhibition. “Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal” runs through February 4, 2024.

Anish Kapoor, Svayambhu (2007). © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio

Anish Kapoor, Svayambhu (2007). © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio

Anish Kapoor, Void Pavilion VII (2023). © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio.

Anish Kapoor, Angel (1990). © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio

Installation view of “Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal”. © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio

Installation view of “Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal”. © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio

Installation view of “Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal”. © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio.

Installation view of “Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal”. © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio.

Installation view of “Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal”. © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio.

Anish Kapoor, Gathering Clouds (2014)

Installation view of “Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal”. © photo Ela Bialkowska OKNO studio.

Anish Kapoor, To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red (1981)

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