Classic Images of Monica Bellucci Featured in New Photography Exhibition in Milan

Former SI Swimsuit model Monica Bellucci is featured in a new exhibition in Milan celebrating acclaimed Italian fashion photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri. 

The exhibition, mounted at the 29 Arts in Progress gallery, displays work that Barbieri produced for designers including Bulgari, Valentino and Vivienne Westwood, as well as an iconic photograph of Bellucci for Dolce & Gabbana. The Italian actress artfully posed in water for the designer’s 2000 campaign.

In addition to the gallery titled “Gian Paolo Barbieri: Unconventional,” Bellucci, 58, is also featured in a documentary about the 84-year-old photographer called The Man and The Beauty alongside Eva Herzigova and Donatella Versace.

“I have always loved art, in all its incarnations,” Barbieri said about his 60-year career. “Since I was a child, the inspiration of theatre and cinema played an important role. Reading widely, studying classical art, looking to the great masters of the past or simply looking around me at what animated my surroundings, I cultivated my artistic eye.”

According to the gallery’s website, the exhibition presents an “innovative” selection of unseen images that fit the “unmistakable genius” of Barbieri’s work.

His photography lies at the intersection of sophisticated and provocative. Best known for his trademark black and white captures, the 2018 Lucie Award winner for Best International Photographer experimented with color to “recount his own personal and ironic interpretation of fashion and feminine beauty.”

The exhibition opened on Nov. 30, and will run through March 25, 2023.

The gallery posted a photo promoting the exhibition on Instagram. 

“‘I’ve always imagined the world in black and white but I’ve learnt to appreciate the many shades that give it colour.’ – Gian Paolo Barbieri,” they wrote. “Our current ‘Gian Paolo Barbieri: Unconventional’ exhibition brings together a body of colorful artworks, for the most part unseen, taken by Barbieri between the 1960’s and the 2000s which together tell the story of his work and Made In Italy.”

Make sure to follow SI Lifestyle in Google News!