The major exhibition “Beato Angelico” in Florence

If you love 15th-century art or simply beauty that speaks to the soul, there is an event you cannot miss: the “Beato Angelico” exhibition in Florence, from September 26, 2025, to January 25, 2026, at Palazzo Strozzi and the Museum of San Marco.

It is a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, and that is not an exaggeration: it has been seventy years since the last major exhibition in Florence dedicated to this master of Italian art.

Beato Angelico, Giudizio universale (det.), 1425-1428 circa, Firenze, Museo di San Marco

Beato Angelico returns home: an exhibition we have been waiting for for seventy years

Beato Angelico was a friar who painted with light and faith. He was not only a great artist, but also a symbolic, almost legendary figure who was able to transform painting into prayer and perspective into revelation. This exhibition finally does justice to his visual and spiritual power.

Two locations, one journey through art

The exhibition is spread across two venues: Palazzo Strozzi, with its contemporary and immersive setting, and the Museum of San Marco, which houses some of Beato Angelico’s most intimate and moving works.

It is a dialogue between spaces and times, between Renaissance Florence and global art, thanks to exceptional loans from museums such as the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, the Vatican Museums, and many others.

In total, there are over 140 works: paintings, drawings, sculptures, miniatures, some restored for the occasion, others reunited after centuries of separation. A true family reunion of art, which will make you see even works you thought you already knew with new eyes.

Who was Beato Angelico really?

Born Guido di Piero in Vicchio del Mugello around 1395, he joined the Dominicans and became Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, but the world knows him as Beato Angelico, a nickname that aptly describes the sweetness and spirituality of his painting.

His art is a bridge between two worlds: it inherits Gothic elegance but boldly embraces the Renaissance revolution, with mathematical perspectives, real volumes, natural light, and a deep sense of the divine descended into the human.

Not just Angelico: a network of influences

The exhibition tells not only the story of Beato Angelico, but also of his time. It will take you on a journey to explore connections with artists such as Lorenzo Monaco, Masaccio, and Filippo Lippi, as well as with the great sculptors of the period: Ghiberti, Michelozzo, and Luca della Robbia.

A true choral portrait of the early Florentine Renaissance, in which Angelico stands out as the beating heart.

Beato Angelico, Annunciazione

Why visit the exhibition

Behind this exhibition lie four years of work, curated with passion and rigor by Carl Brandon Strehlke, in collaboration with Angelo Tartuferi and Stefano Casciu.

It is thanks to this synergy between institutions, museums, libraries, and churches that today we can admire masterpieces never seen together before. And this does not happen every day.

What awaits you

If you decide to visit, and I highly recommend you do, prepare yourself for an experience that goes beyond art: it is a journey into spirituality, history, and beauty that stands the test of time.

You will find yourself in front of paintings created with almost liturgical care, figures as light as angels and silent landscapes where every element is there for a reason.

In a fast-paced world, this exhibition invites you to slow down, to really look, to let yourself be enveloped by the golden light of a master who changed the way we think about art and the sacred.

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

Dates: September 26, 2025 – January 25, 2026

Where: Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco, Florence

Hours: Every day 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Thursdays until 11:00 p.m.

Tickets: Reservations are recommended.