Palazzo Reale hosts a major event. Ukiyo-e is the Japanese artistic current whose greatest exponent, Hokusai, was the subject of a very successful exhibition in 1999.
[Ukiyo-e. The Floating World]. Palazzo Reale hosts a major exhibition of Japanese art. “Ukiyo-e. The Floating World” is the evocative title of this show that will fascinate both visitors and readers of the catalogue. 500 works reconstruct the various aspects of Japanese culture and society from the 17th to the early 19th century. The magic of a world suspended between myth and fable, described by images in pastel tones of ethereal courtesans, acrobats and actors, landscapes and vivid scenes from everyday life. Through the works of artists like Hokusai, Utamaro Hirosige and Moronobu, the various sections of the volume, on Theater, Tradition, Landscape, City Life and Feminine Beauty, reconstruct the social and cultural transformation that took place around the city of Edo, which later became Tokyo: here, from the 17th to the 19th century, the crisis of the ancient feudal aristocracy and the new stimuli brought by the rising middle classes generated a new, revolutionary style based on a refined taste for elegance and the pursuit of aesthetic and sensual pleasures.
Milan, Palazzo Reale, 2004.