Palazzo Reale: “Van Cleef and Arpels: Time, Nature, Love“, on display in Milan from 30 November 2019 to 23 February 2020
Van Cleef & Arpels presents for the first time in Italy, the universe of the Maison of High Jewelry through over 400 jewels, watches and precious objects made since its foundation in 1906.
The exhibition celebrates the unique ability of jewels to combine eternity and ephemeral, love and manufacture, beauty and art. The exhibition is divided into three sections – Time, Nature, Love – and was conceived taking inspiration from Italo Calvino’s American lessons.
Archival documents, line drawings and gouache testify the origins of artistic creation by accompanying the precious specimens from the Van Cleef & Arpels Collection and private loans.
In perennial balance between the eternal and the ephemeral, between tradition and fashion, the the art of jewelry maintains a complex relationship with time.
The exhibition itinerary illustrates Van Cleef & Arpels’ ability to interpret a fragmented time like that of the twentieth century and to represent both the perpetual values related to beauty and the fleeting power of seduction.
