EN_The Bell Jar - Rome Gallery Weekend

28/02/2026

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18/04/2026

Exhibitions

Group exhibition

The Bell Jar

Curated by Massimiliano Maglione

MONTI8 is delighted to present “The Bell Jar”, a group show featuring the works of seven artists coming from different geographical areas and working on different media. The title is an homage to the novel written by the American writer and poet Sylvia Plath, published in 1963 and partially inspired by her own life. The story, the only novel published by Plath, revolves around a 19 -year-old woman named Esther who describes herself trapped under a bell jar, a metaphor for a strong feeling of anxiety and depression caused by the rules of the society of the 50s.

But if the bell jar represents something bad in Plath’s famous novel, in the common belief this object has other meanings. At the beginning used for scientific experiments, it is still used to protect precious objects such as clocks and other decorative items. The object on the inside is displayed and – at the same time – private, it belongs to his owner, it can be observed but never touched from the outside.

In this case the bell jar can be seen as a barrier between the inside and the external world, and in general every kind of boundary that marks our life. Moreover, being under a bell jar sometimes means someone who is unaware of his/her surroundings, someone who ignores the facts. In this exhibition the bell jar metaphorically refers also to those artists who use painting, drawing and sculpture to show something private or intimate.

Through their artistic practice, they seem to preserve a specific moment, objects, or figures caught in domestic or private scenes that the artist wants to protect from the viewer’s gaze.