The exhibition “The Invention of Light. Caravaggio. Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy” has opened in Mumbai, hosted at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai, the city’s oldest museum (founded in 1857), which has always been committed to the mission of presenting contemporary Indian art, going well beyond mere neocolonial interpretations.
The precious centerpiece of the exhibition is Caravaggio’s “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy,” probably painted around 1606 and found in 2014 in a private collection after centuries of unknown wanderings. The painting shows Caravaggio’s usual mastery in the use and modulation of light and chiaroscuro, in the pursuit of a tragic and almost theatrical realism that pierces the flow of time in an instant of explosive tension. The work is being displayed in Mumbai for the first time.
The exhibition, curated by Andrea Anastasio (Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in New Delhi) and Tasneem Zakaria Mehta (Managing Trustee and Director of the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum), was inaugurated in the presence – among others – of Mumbai’s Mayor (Municipal Commissioner) Bhushan Gagrani; Maharashtra’s Minister of Culture Ashish Shelar; Consul General Walter Ferrara; Mumbai Botanic Garden Director Dr. Tripathi; the curators, and Francesca Amendola, who works for the Italian Cultural Institute in Mumbai.
Further underscoring the exhibition’s value for fostering a multi-faceted cultural dialogue, the exhibition features works by Indian artist M.V. Dhurandhar, known for his early 20th-century paintings inspired by Hindu mythology. The comparison between the two artistic visions, the intense and tragic one of Caravaggio, and the more composed and idealized one of Dhurandhar, hinges around the theme of devotion and spiritual transcendence and allows for a dialogue that spans the centuries.
