ROME - An exhibition dedicated to a great artist can show all of his works, or just a selection. If the artist is Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, we are faced with a prolific production, which is now dispersed throughout Italy and the four corners of the world: Florence, Messina, Milan, Naples, Rome, Syracuse, the Vatican City, Malta, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Potsdam, London, Dublin, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Hartford, New York, etc. The exhibition, in one same place, of the complete works by Caravaggio, without exception, is a long-cherished dream of scholars and enthusiasts, is thus an “impossible exhibition”.

Therefore, in agreement with the organizers of the “Caravaggio” exhibition, that is taking place at the Scuderie del Quirinale, Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana, in association with the Municipality of Rome, Department of Cultural Policies and Communication - Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, brings to the Trajan’s Market Museum at the Imperial Fora an “Impossible Exhibition” which comprises life-sized and backlit high definition reproductions of 63 paintings, the complete works by Caravaggio.

The idea of “impossible exhibition” arises from the observation that, in the age of digital reproduction of works of art, the reproduction must be protected and treasured just as the original: a mass diffusion of the works of art, guaranteed by its reproductions, responds to an instance of cultural democracy voiced by Walter Benjamin and André Malraux.

The Exhibition at the Trajan’s Market Museum at the Imperial Fora is completed by the setting up of different audiovisual installations of substantial didactic relevance, such as the showing on wide screens of films and documentaries dedicated to the life and works of Michelangelo Merisi.

One can view the TV Drama in six episodes recently produced by Rai or the film of the play that Dario Fo staged especially for this “impossible exhibition” or listen, in an especially allocated room, to the music “painted” in three famous works by Caravaggio (The Flight into Egypt, Amor Victorious and The Lute Player.)

Many descriptive panels, illustrating the works and vicissitudes of the artist, with texts drawn from the chronicles of that time, help the visitor to contextualize the works by the painter.

On the exhibition’s website - the equivalent to a traditional catalogue - one can venture into the infinite details of the 63 paintings and also go onto a virtual tour of the exhibition accompanied by the voice of authoritative art historians such as Ferdinando Bologna, Dominique Fernandez and Claudio Strinati.

All the information and entertainment on offer that characterize the “Impossible Exhibition” by Caravaggio, organized with the collaboration of Lottomatica, is completed by the interactive “Caravaggio in detail” game, which will be accessible both from Trajan’s Market Museum at the Imperial Fora and from the Web. The game consists in correctly assigning 15 small details to their paintings: a strongly didactic skills competition, created with the contribution of the Il Gioco del Lotto - Lottomatica, the national lottery game, who is the main sponsor of the “Impossible Exhibition”.