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05 2026
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14/05/2026
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25/07/2026
Exhibitions

rgw 2026

Elisa Montessori

50 x 35

Monitor is pleased to present 50 x 35, celebrating ten years of collaboration with the gallery and marking Elisa Montessori’s third solo exhibition at its San Lorenzo space in Rome, following Ogni cosa è un’altra (2016) and Piante e Fiori (moralità boschiva) (2021). 50 x 35 takes shape as an anthology of works rather than a cohesive, programmatic project: a journey through Elisa Montessori’s rich recent production. On view is a selection of works produced between 2014 and 2026, some of which never previously shown. Introduced by the artist’s book that gives the exhibition its title, the show offers a broad perspective on Montessori’s recent work, energetic, vital, and multifaceted. It draws from a wide range of influences, driven by an unrelenting curiosity, visible here in references to Chinese Grass Script and to the writings of Graham Sutherland.
Perhaps its most fundamental aspect lies in an intuitive and instinctive practice. Looking at the works on view—from Tropismi (2023–2024) to Lungotevere (2018), and up to those produced in 2026—what clearly emerges is the absence of any programmatic intent. Instead, one finds an instinctive, non-contingent identity, and the pursuit of a free mode of expression, unburdened by the need to become a “code”. The exhibition thus finds its raison d’être in an attempt to bear witness to this free spirit and its continuous, vital energy, a breath that traces marks across different supports and materials. These materials range from traditional and modern media to found or incidental elements, or, as in the case of the large tree branch on display, simply “designated” as art, despite originating directly from nature.
For Elisa Montessori, art, painting and drawing are akin to involuntary actions, like breathing or being awake. Her language is at once organic and mental, yet always immediate: in her own words, “either it happens, or it doesn’t. ” Elisa Montessori was born in Genoa in 1931 and lives and works in Rome. Since the 1950s, she has explored a range of different forms and expressive styles, following a minimal register poised between pure abstraction and figurative evocation. Refined in both mark and composition, Montessori’s practice reveals the influence of two worlds: the cultural fertility of the West and the more sign-based and elusive dimension of the East. It is precisely in her distinctive use of the pictorial mark, that both the historical avant-gardes and Eastern sensibilities emerge, the latter conceiving the act of marking as a totality of physical and mental experiences.
Among her most significant solo exhibitions are: Il sogno della camera rossa, MUCIV – Museo delle Civiltà, Rome (2025); Segno sogno, Palazzo Bisaccioni, Jesi (2025); Prospekt, Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Krakow and Warsaw (2023); Piante e Fiori (Moralità Boschiva), Monitor, Rome (2021); Elisa Montessori. La camera bianca, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome (2020); Um lugar desenhado pela passagem do corpo, Monitor, Lisbon (2019); Lungotevere, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome (2018); Fiori Scarlatti, Manguste e Volo Notturno, Casa delle Letterature, Rome (2017); Ogni cosa è un’altra, Monitor, Rome (2016); Bamboo, Casina delle Civette, Rome (2015); Elisa Montessori. Shangai Blues, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome (2006). Among her most important group exhibitions are: L’Età dell’Oro. I capolavori dorati della Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria incontrano l’Arte Contemporanea, Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia (2024); Leggere il tempo.
Libri nell’Arte. XXI Secolo, Palazzo Nicolosio Lomellino, Genoa (2024); El Dorado, Museo Pietro Canonica, Rome (2023); I say I / Io dico Io, La Galleria Nazionale, Rome (2021); Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto (1989); XI Quadriennale di Roma, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (1986); Ofelia ’86, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Paris (1986); XVII Biennale d’Arte di San Paolo, Brazil (1983); Aperto 82/Tempo, XL Biennale di Venezia, Venice (1982).