Artwork: Paste-up by JR (@jr), Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2021

Artist JR has created a magnificent trompe l’oeil paste-up creating a massive opening in the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, revealing significant artworks such as Boticelli’s The Birth of Venus, housed in museums that so many have been deprived of seeing because of the pandemic. The project is funded by the Palazzo Strozzi Future Arts Programme that supports contemporary art. Florence is one of my favourite cities in the world, so JR’s artwork and words resonate:

“They say the museums are closed. But it's up to us to open them. Here is Florence, the city of Boticelli, Donatello, Machiavelli and Dante, we opened the Palazzo Strozzi. These last few months, we have been deprived from the possibility to be together ... but we still have the freedom to dream, to create, to envision the future. Maybe, it's not much, but we have that!”