Our spirit is embodied in the body. And it is thus, with skin and flesh, that we give back to the world—and to other beings like us—what we are. The exhibition's great value Robert Mapplethorpe. The Forms of Desire, scheduled in Royal Palace from the 29 January to the 17 May 2026, it is precisely that of having been able to restore this truth regarding the art and poetics of the American photographer. A simple and exceptionally powerful truth, which critics have often failed to recognize, relegating to vulgarity the real interest in human nature and its most direct way of manifesting itself: the body, precisely.
Now, in the cultural calendar that accompanies Milan before and during the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter GamesMapplethorpe's photography finally finds a broad and structured retrospective, which brings one of the most discussed and influential authors of the twentieth century back to the centre of critical debate.
The exhibition – curated by Denis Curti and promoted by the Municipality of Milan – is produced by Royal Palace e Marsilio Art in collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New YorkThe exhibition is part of the program of the Milan Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympics and is part of a larger trilogy that began in Venice and will conclude in Rome, at the Ara Pacis Museum.
A retrospective built on form
Over two hundred works retrace the entire span of Mapplethorpe's production, from the youthful assemblages to the most famous images of portraits, nudes, and flowers. The curatorial approach avoids a rigid chronological reading and favors a thematic scansion that highlights the formal coherence of his research.
The stated intent is to reposition Mapplethorpe within the history of photography as an artist capable of uniting classical discipline and contemporary tension. The provocation often associated with his name is thus reduced to a question of language: light, balance, control of space, and the centrality of the body become tools for constructing the image, not elements of disruption for their own sake.
From experimentation to great portraits
The exhibition opens with collages created between the late 1960s and early 1970s, rare works that reveal a Mapplethorpe still committed to assembling heterogeneous materials, including religious iconography, press clippings, and erotic allusions. These works reveal a precocious reflection on identity and the role of artifice as an expressive device.
Ample space is reserved for the figures who have marked his imagination. The portraits of Patti Smith They convey an intimate and lasting relationship, documented over a period of time that accompanies both of them in their artistic maturity. The images dedicated to Lisa Lyon, bodybuilding champion, instead address the theme of androgynous beauty, placing the female body in a neoclassical dimension that goes beyond gender conventions.
Self-portrait as investigation
The self-portrait section represents one of the exhibition's most intense cores. Mapplethorpe uses the camera as a tool for introspection, recording physical and symbolic transformations over time, ranging from the elegant poses of the 1970s to the images marked by illness in his final years. Without narrative complacency, the artist's body becomes a subject of study, a place of tension between formal control and vulnerability.
Celebrity and anonymity
Alongside the self-portraits, the studio portraits of well-known figures – from Andy Warhol to Yoko Ono, from Susan Sontag to Isabella Rossellini – coexist with those of anonymous subjects. In both cases, the relationship between photographer and model is governed by rigorous staging, where gaze and posture take on an almost sculptural quality. Photography is configured as a ritual space, a place for the transformation of the individual into an image.
Nudes, flowers and symbolic tension
The heart of the exhibition is the series of nudes and the famous flowers. The bodies, both male and female, are treated as ideal forms, sculpted by light and isolated from their context. Particularly noteworthy is the attention paid to African-American models, photographed without any stereotype, in a quest that intertwines classicism and assertiveness. This work is particularly interesting considering we are in the late 80s, a time when nudity, gender, and ethnicity were still taboo. The Perfect Moment (the traveling exhibition in which some of these photographs were first displayed) led to Mapplethorpe being prosecuted for obscenity, drawing protests from conservative groups, then as now very influential in American society.
The floral still lifes, seemingly distant from the erotic charge of the nudes, share their symbolic tension. Calla lilies, orchids, and tulips are portrayed as vital, allusive presences, poised between sacredness and sensuality. In these images, Mapplethorpe pushes photography toward an almost abstract dimension, where form becomes a vehicle for layered meanings.
Dialogue with the ancient
The exhibition concludes with a section dedicated to the comparison between photography and classical statuary. Using the Hasselblad 500C, Mapplethorpe photographs ancient sculptures as if they were living bodies, blurring the distance between marble and flesh. The result is a perceptual reversal: the solidity of the stone is imbued with fragility, while the photograph takes on an almost sculptural function.
A cultural project: the catalogue and the podcast
The collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation has made possible a particularly comprehensive exhibition, including rarely exhibited works. The Foundation, established by the artist in 1988, continues to support the promotion of photography as an artistic medium and HIV/AIDS research, two areas that Mapplethorpe considered inseparable from his legacy.
Next to the exhibition, a catalog published by Marsilio Arte and a original podcast, Mapplethorpe Unframed, contribute to broadening the narrative and critical device of the project.
Milan and the contemporary image
In the Milanese context, Robert Mapplethorpe. The Shapes of Desire takes on a specific meaning. The city, historically linked to photography, fashion and the creative industries, finds in this retrospective an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between body, image and identity. Not a simple tribute to a controversial author, but a attempt to restore its complexity, beyond the simplifications that have accompanied its reception for decades.
An elite retreat in the heart of Milan: OMEGA House lights up Milano Cortina 2026.
