Published on occasion of the exhibition of Giuseppe Penone’s works in Florence, hosted at Boboli Gardens and Forte di Belvedere, this volume profiles one of the world’s most prominent and internationally esteemed contemporary artists.
It is more than just an exhibition catalogue, as it contains, in addition to detailed illustrations of all of the works installed for the exhibition at these two extraordinary Florentine locations, important documents and additional information useful for understanding the artist and his work.

The text is structured around a long conversation between Giuseppe Penone and Arabella Natalini, accompanied by drawings from the artist’s sketchbook. Numerous contributions by internationally renowned critics present many points of reflection on the body of work of one of the most important exponents of the Arte Povera movement.
A section devoted to biographical and bibliographical matter and a summary of the exhibited works, together with a large collection of images from the Archivio Penone, offers an important overview of the artist’s prolific career.

GIUSEPPE PENONE studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Turin, Italy. His first exhibitions took place at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1970, at the Kunstmuseum Luzern in Lucerne (1977), at the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Baden-Baden (1978), and at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1980). More recently his works have been exhibited in the Park and Palace of Versailles, at the Kunstmuseum Winterthur in Switzerland (2013), and at the Whitechapel Gallery in London (2012), as well as in a retrospective at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (2004). Selected for the Turner Prize in 1989, Penone has also displayed his works at Documenta V (1972), VII (1982), VIII (1987) and XIII (2012), and at the Venice Biennale (2007, 1995, 1986, 1980, and 1978).