Lost to history for centuries, Caravaggio’s Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy has emerged from the shadows, and found an unlikely (and temporary) home on New York’s Upper East Side.
New York has so many beautiful museums showcasing some of the world’s most renowned art. However, it can sometimes be overwhelming deciding where to spend an afternoon with the embarrassment of riches the city has, especially when the last conversation we had with an out-of-towner involved them condescending to us because we haven’t been to every art museum they asked about.
One might retort, “Dan, that doesn’t happen to me. I’ve been to all the art museums in the city!”
To which I would say: This is a safe space. There’s no need to lie.
But whether you have been to all the museums or none at all, there is an art exhibition that should be at the top of everyone’s to-do list this fall, and it’s not even at an art museum.
For the next few weeks, Caravaggio’s Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy is on display at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. This piece has never been exhibited in the United States before now. In fact, this painting by one of the Renaissance’s most influential artists was lost until recently. In the 21st century, it can be easy to forget that even with the wealth of knowledge at our disposal, there are things we don’t know and pieces of history that have been lost to time.
Copies of Caravaggio’s painting have existed, so we did know of it, but the original was only rediscovered in 2014 by Italian art historian and scholar Mina Gregori. In the 12 years since it resurfaced, the painting has “toured” in India and across Europe, including Germany and Lithuania, and now it has arrived at the Italian Cultural Institute on the Upper East Side. The Institute isn’t a museum but an organization founded by the Italian government in 1961 with the intention to “foster cultural exchanges between Italy and the U.S. in a variety of areas, from the arts to the humanities, to science, and technology.”
I had the pleasure of visiting the Institute for the opening night of the Caravaggio exhibition. I was excited to see a bit of new history, but it started with a moment of anxiety-ridden imposter syndrome.
With a name like Marino, one could assume I would feel right at home in this setting. As an Italian-American, my family falls into many of the East Coast stereotypes: a large, close family with big personalities. We have funny jargon for some words, Grandmom is one of the best cooks on the planet, and we belong to the class of “Italians” who put “gravy” on our pasta. But even with the many stereotypes, our origins predate Ellis Island, so we lean much more toward the American side of Italian-American than we care to admit.
Growing up, I attended Italian-American organizations with my grandparents and great-uncles, and I expected more of the same. I only learned after arriving how deeply invested in Italian culture this Institute is. It was a treat to hear dignitaries from the Italian government speak at this event and express their enthusiasm for upholding the Institute’s goal of sharing cultural milestones.
And then I entered the exhibition room.
Let me describe the room: a small, square space with mostly white walls. A single bench faces a wall that holds Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, and on either side of the painting is a description. One side is in Italian and the other in English.
It’s not much.
New York has no shortage of art that brings history to life. From Caravaggio’s rediscovered masterpiece to the ways Indigenous art reclaims the American story at New York Historical, the city’s exhibitions offer fresh perspectives on the past.
But the simplicity of the exhibition poetically mimics the tenebrism of the painting—but I’m getting ahead of myself. Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy is a 1606 painting by Caravaggio, created the same year he killed a man and became a fugitive, after which he moved around for four years before his death. The artwork shows Mary Magdalene in a state of ecstasy during one of her visions. (My Catholic school upbringing failed to share medieval beliefs that Mary Magdalene had various visions of heaven in the final decades of her life.)
In terms of style, the painting showcases Caravaggio’s masterful use of chiaroscuro, which is the use of strong contrasts between the light and dark parts of an artwork. Caravaggio pushed the limits of this technique, popularizing tenebrism, which is a more extreme use of contrast. Where chiaroscuro may still reveal details in the dark areas, paintings that utilize tenebrism have pitch-black shadows, with subjects emerging from that blackness. Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy is one such example, where the contrast between Mary and the background is highly exaggerated, pulling all the focus onto her.
It feels only fitting that this painting would stand in this exhibition at this Institute. The beauty and unique history of Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy are on full display in this simple room. And while it could get lost in the cacophony of numerous museums in the city, the Italian Cultural Institute provides a space in New York for Caravaggio’s artwork to emerge from a background that would threaten to swallow it.
The exhibition is open now through November 6 at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. Admission is free, so hurry before this new classic moves on. More information is available on the Institute’s website.