Modena, at BPER Bank Gallery an exhibition on the centaur and feral creatures of Jules van Biesbroeck

From April 18 to June 29, 2025, the BPER Banca Gallery, Modena ’s exhibition space at 9 Via Scudari, reopens to the public with theexhibition Creature Ferine. Centaurs, Fauns and Myths in the Art of Jules van Biesbroeck and Contemporary Imagery, curated by Luciano Rivi. The exhibition offers a visual itinerary that starts from the figure of the centaur to explore the mythological universe of the West, interweaving symbolism and contemporary reflections on the human condition.

At the center of the exhibition is the work of Jules van Biesbroeck (Portici, 1873 - Brussels, 1965), a Belgian painter and sculptor, whose corporate collection of the BPER Group owns a nucleus of 39 works, including drawings, sculptures and paintings. After the solo exhibition held in 2019 at the Modena Art Gallery(Jules Van Biesbroeck. The Soul of Things, December 2019 - June 2020), The BPER Banca Gallery presents a new exhibition itinerary, which delves into the artist’s Symbolist component and his ability to deal with themes related to theunconscious and innermost passions through the language of myth.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is the centaur, depicted in the work Centaur Killing a Deer (first half of the 20th century), in which Van Biesbroeck depicts the mythological being as he triumphantly lifts the antlers of his prey. The painting, inspired by a lyric by Gabriele D’Annunzio from the collection Alcyone (1903), symbolically expresses the dualism of the human being. Indeed, the half-man, half-horse creature embodies the eternal conflict between the instinctive, vital dimension and the rationality that seeks to control it.

Starting with this figure, the exhibition’s path winds through art and literature from the seventeenth century to the present day. As with the previous exhibition Psyche in the Mirror. Omnia vincit amor (which ended in February 2025), again The BPER Bank Gallery builds a project that draws from its own collection to investigate, through mythological subjects, universal themes that also resonate in our own time. The subtle balance between the human and animal element, which has always been at the center of reflections on identity, provides fertile ground for questioning the complexity of being. The exhibition thus becomes an opportunity to reflect on the fragmentation of the self, the tensions between individual desires and collective needs, the contrast between culture and nature, rationality and impulse.

Hours: All Fridays 2-7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Free admission, no reservation required. Special guided tours on Easter Sunday, April 20 at 4:30 pm, and Easter Monday, April 21 at 11 am and 4:30 pm. Guided tours on alternate Sundays at 3 and 4. 30 p.m. from Sunday, April 27.

Modena, at BPER Bank Gallery an exhibition on the centaur and feral creatures of Jules van Biesbroeck

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