An exhibition on fragmented art spanning more than four thousand five hundred years of global history is about to open in Florence, showcasing mutilated statues, broken heads and sculptures reassembled after being destroyed in war. It is called Broken and it is the project through which Palazzo Strozzi and the National Gallery of Art in Washington explore the fascination and cultural meaning of what remains when a work of art breaks.
Key points
- Broken brings together 80 works covering more than 4,500 years of art history, from ancient artifacts to contemporary sculpture.
- The exhibition opens at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from 25 September to 24 January 2027, then moves to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, from 13 March to 27 June 2027.
- The curators are Claude Douglas Dickerson and Andrew Sears, both affiliated with the NGA.
- Among the most discussed pieces: a broken head of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, a bust of Benito Mussolini and a Neo-Hittite sculpture reconstructed after being destroyed during the Second World War.
- An entire section is dedicated to the 1966 Florence flood, which caused 35 deaths and damaged countless works of art in the city.
The Broken exhibition spans 4,500 years of fragmented art
Broken was born from an idea that remained on hold for years: what would happen if an entire exhibition were curated devoted only to fragments? The answer came from Claude Douglas Dickerson, now dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, who during the Covid-19 lockdowns revisited that project, which for years had been only a hypothesis among colleagues. “I started thinking about this idea, realizing that there is something in a fragment that deserves to be explored,” Dickerson explained. “There are stories that can be told and that offer an awareness and a perspective that other exhibitions cannot provide.”
Timeline and venues of the exhibition
The exhibition on fragmented art debuts at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from 25 September to 24 January 2027, then arrives, in a partially modified version, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, from 13 March to 27 June 2027. This is not the first collaboration between the two institutions: they had already worked together on an exhibition on Hellenistic bronzes in 2015 and on a show dedicated to Verrocchio in 2019. According to Arturo Galansino, director of Palazzo Strozzi, the NGA’s choice of the Florentine venue is linked to the museum’s ability to host “complex and highly scholarly exhibitions.”
Scope and curators
The project bears the signature of Dickerson together with Andrew Sears, assistant curator of Northern European paintings at the NGA. Together they selected eighty works ranging from ancient artifacts to modern sculptures and contemporary pieces, in a journey that intertwines different eras and geographies to tell a single idea: that of rupture as a universal experience in the history of art.
Key works illustrate stories and causes of fragmentation
Among the eighty works on display stand out pieces capable of telling, each in its own way, a different story of destruction or artistic choice. Some sculptures have come down to us in fragments due to iconoclasm, vandalism, wars or natural disasters; others were created specifically to appear broken.
Notable fragmented artifacts and works
Among the most significant pieces is a copper head of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, dating to around 700–800 AD, next to a bust of Benito Mussolini dated 1923 and a pastiche of ancient sculpture created by artist Francesco Vezzoli in 2023. The exhibition also includes important international loans: a fragment of a right hand with pointing finger, from the Capitoline Museums in Rome and linked to the figure of Emperor Constantine the Great, which Dickerson describes as a “canonical fragment.” From the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico comes a Mesoamerican figure dating to around 150–250 AD, which scholars believe was deliberately destroyed during a sacrificial ritual.
Michelangelo is also present: the terracotta Model of a Nude Woman, made around 1533, is displayed with several missing body parts, including the arms. Recent research suggests that the incompleteness may have been intended by the artist himself, not an effect of time.
Reconstruction and conservation efforts
One of the most surprising cases is that of a Neo-Hittite sculpture, dating to around 1000 BC, excavated by German archaeologists in present-day Syria and later kept in a museum before being destroyed during Allied bombing in the Second World War. The work was patiently reassembled from hundreds of fragments in a process that lasted more than twenty years. Dickerson described the selection of the works as one of the most complex challenges of the entire project, precisely because of the enormous number of stories of destruction and recovery available to be told.
Themes of destruction, iconoclasm and emotional responses
The common thread of the exhibition is not only aesthetic, but interpretive: Dickerson is particularly interested in how a damaged work can elicit a more intense emotional response than an intact one. For the curator, fragments become a lens through which to observe broader historical and cultural issues, such as the reasons why entire civilizations have destroyed images and monuments, and the way fragmentation has influenced generations of artists.
Exploring historical and cultural issues
By juxtaposing ancient artifacts with contemporary works created already fragmented, the exhibition questions the very idea of artistic integrity. In this narrative, breaking is not only a loss, but also a new language: capable of telling stories of wars, political changes, religious rites and even conscious choices by artists.
Impact of the 1966 Florence flood on artworks
In the Florence leg, the curators have also created space for a section dedicated to the devastating flood that struck Florence in 1966, causing the death of 35 people and incalculable damage to countless works of art in the city. “In the year of the sixtieth anniversary of the flood, we wanted to explore how sculptures are put at risk by climate-related issues,” Galansino explained, linking a specific historical event to a theme that is today even more urgent for the conservation of artistic heritage.
For those working in the art market and in collection management, this section carries a weight that goes beyond historical memory: episodes such as the 1966 flood have shaped for decades the insurance valuations and conservation protocols for Florentine works, and continue to influence today decisions on museum loans and the movement of fragile pieces between international institutions.
The very fact that two museums of the caliber of Palazzo Strozzi and the National Gallery of Art are dedicating an entire program to damaged works signals something broader: the fragment, traditionally considered a lesser object compared to the intact work, is taking on an increasingly central role in international museum programming, with potential effects on loan demand, conservation care and the interest of collectors and institutions in this category of artifacts.
FAQ
What is the scope of the Broken exhibition?
Broken presents 80 fragmented artworks spanning more than 4,500 years of global history.
Where and when can the Broken exhibition be visited?
The exhibition opens at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from 25 September to 24 January 2027 and then moves to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, from 13 March to 27 June 2027.
Who curated the Broken exhibition?
The exhibition is curated by Claude Douglas Dickerson and Andrew Sears of the National Gallery of Art.
What themes does the exhibition address?
The exhibition explores themes related to destruction, iconoclasm and the emotional responses elicited by fragmented artworks.
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As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Cryptonomist and Econique.
She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.
