Beginning May 21st, 2026, MAR – Museo d’Arte della Città di Ravenna presents the Galleria Paolo Roversi, a permanent space dedicated to the celebrated photographer in his hometown of Ravenna. Bringing together portraits, still lifes, archival materials, and landmark fashion imagery, the gallery offers a rare glimpse into Roversi’s intimate visual world.
Curated by Chiara Bardelli Nonino and designed with longtime collaborator Ania Martchenko, the space is shaped by the elements central to Roversi’s photography: shadow, silence, softness, and light.
A permanent gallery inspired by Studio Luce and the spirit of Ravenna
Occupying several rooms on the museum’s top floor, the gallery echoes the atmosphere of Roversi’s Paris studio, Studio Luce. Cameras, Polaroids, photographs, and personal objects appear within carefully staged interiors that mirror the emotional closeness of his working process.
The exhibition moves through associations and moods instead of chronology, creating the feeling of stepping inside the photographer’s imagination. Ravenna’s Byzantine heritage also lingers throughout the space: much like the city’s mosaics, Roversi’s images seem illuminated from within, suspended between clarity and disappearance.
Fashion photography, iconic portraits, and timeless elegance
Among the featured works are portraits of Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Stella Tennant, Rihanna, Isabella Rossellini, Golshifteh Farahani, Natalia Vodianova, and Stella Roversi. The gallery also revisits defining series from his career, including the luminous “light painting” photographs created for Comme des Garçons in 1996 and the dreamlike “white nudes” with Shalom Harlow, Amber Valletta, Kirsten Owen, and Devon Aoki.
Working with analogue processes, long exposures, and large-format Polaroids, Roversi embraces blur, chance, and imperfection. Faces and bodies emerge slowly from darkness, carrying a spectral, almost painterly quality.
Photography by PAOLO ROVERSI
Photography by PAOLO ROVERSI
