Caravaggio, the Baroque period’s notorious “bad boy” who painted directly onto canvas without preliminary sketches, is being celebrated with the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition, which made history by selling 60,000 tickets on its opening day.
This year, Rome once again pays tribute to one of the most striking and revolutionary figures in art history: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610). Held at the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica – Palazzo Barberini, the Caravaggio 2025 exhibition presents 24 masterpieces drawn from collections across Italy and around the globe. Curated by Francesca Cappelletti, Maria Cristina Terzaghi, and Thomas Clement Salomon, this major exhibition—organized as part of the 2025 Holy Year (Catholic Jubilee)—is among the most extensive Caravaggio retrospectives ever mounted in Italy.
More than a showcase of a remarkable painter’s works, the exhibition offers an in-depth journey into Caravaggio’s life, delving into his artistic brilliance, inner struggles, and human vulnerability. It traces the evolution of his art from his arrival in Rome in the mid-1590s to his mysterious death in 1610.
THE DARK CORNERS OF EVERYDAY LIFE
Caravaggio was far from an ordinary artist. Born in Milan in 1571, he trained under Simone Peterzano, a student of Titian. Yet when he entered the Roman art scene, he brought with him something that went well beyond classical idealism. The first section of the exhibition, “Roman Debut/Early Years in Rome,” explores Caravaggio’s difficult beginnings. Paintings like Boy Peeling Fruit and Young Sick Bacchus may appear mundane at first, but on closer inspection, they reveal a profound sensitivity to physical suffering and sensual experience.
His associations with figures such as Prospero Orsi and Costantino Spada eventually led to the support of his most important patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who would be pivotal to his career. Works like The Musicians, The Cardsharps, and Good Luck, which became part of Del Monte’s collection, demonstrate how Caravaggio turned the shadowy corners of everyday life into compelling scenes filled with light and motion.
HOLINESS AND SIN IN THE SAME BODY
The second section, titled “Invigorating the Dark Shades/Karanlığı Yoğunlaştırmak,” highlights the new depths Caravaggio reached in his manipulation of light and shadow. Among the rare portraits featured is the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, presented in two different versions side by side for the first time. The section also includes powerful religious scenes such as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Judith Beheading Holofernes, and Martha and Mary Magdalene. These works, featuring real-life models like Fillide Melandroni—a notable woman of her era—reveal how Caravaggio united the sacred and the profane within a single figure.
A particular highlight is the early painting Conversion of Saint Paul, rendered on cypress wood, an uncommon medium. This version illustrates how Caravaggio approached religious subjects with a sense of urgency and intense realism.
YEARS OF EXILE
In the section titled “The Sacred and the Tragic Between Rome and Naples,” Caravaggio’s narrative enters a darker phase. The frescoes painted for the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi, depicting Saint Matthew, mark a dramatic pinnacle in his religious storytelling. The acclaim these works garnered brought him both new commissions and mounting pressure.
After killing a man in a duel in 1606, Caravaggio fled Rome, beginning years of exile spent in Naples, Malta, and Sicily—years that saw the creation of his most intense and introspective works. Supper at Emmaus, Saint Francis in Meditation, and Ecce Homo—the latter rediscovered in Madrid in 2021 and set to be exhibited in Italy for the first time in 400 years—bear the marks of both technical brilliance and deep spiritual confrontation.
In David with the Head of Goliath, the face of Goliath is believed to be Caravaggio’s own—a haunting instance of the artist portraying himself as both sinner and victim.
FINAL SCENE
The “Endgame” section focuses on the final years of Caravaggio’s life—his disputes with the knights in Malta, his solitude in Sicily, and his days spent in hiding in Naples. His last works, created in hopes of gaining forgiveness and returning to Rome, such as Portrait of a Knight of Malta and The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, are markedly simpler, more introspective, and more profound than his earlier pieces. Figures emerge softly from the shadows, gestures are restrained; violence is no longer outward, but internalized.
Caravaggio died under mysterious circumstances in 1610, at the age of 38, still waiting for a pardon. Yet his work had already revolutionized the visual language of Europe. Departing from the idealized figures of the Renaissance, he brought sacred stories into the streets—and turned street people into saints. He painted light, but always saw through the dark.
A NEW LOOK AT THE MASTER
Caravaggio 2025 is more than a major exhibition; it is a cultural moment that challenges us to reconsider our notions of art, the artist’s place in society, and the fragile boundary between brilliance and defiance. Alongside iconic masterpieces, the exhibition presents a rare opportunity to view newly discovered works and seldom-seen paintings from private collections.
At a time when the world feels increasingly unstable and values appear more ambiguous, Caravaggio’s world—chaotic, human, tragic, and divine—resonates more powerfully than ever.
