Teatro Romano

Drawing on extensive research about the use of color in antiquity, Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli (b. 1971) has collaborated with a team of archaeologists, conservators and polychrome specialists to paint five ancient Roman busts in the manner in which they would originally have been decorated. While white marble remains the quintessential material of ancient Greek and Roman statuary, extensive research has confirmed that ancient sculpture was painted in a vivid palette of yellows, blues, reds and greens. Dating from the first and second centuries A.D., Vezzoli’s Roman Imperial busts restore to contemporary imagination the decorated surfaces that have faded away over nearly two thousand years.

Teatro Romano is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Director, MoMA PS1, and Chief Curator at Large, The Museum of Modern Art, with Margaret Aldredge, Curatorial Assistant, MoMA PS1.