The new exhibition reconnects classical mythology with the palace it originally inspired.
Rome, June 2026. The Borghese Gallery has opened Metamorphoses: Ovid and the Arts, an exhibition dedicated to the enduring influence of the Roman poet on Western artistic creation. The project, organised with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, brings together more than 80 works spanning several centuries. Visitors can explore how stories of physical transformation shaped painting, sculpture and the decorative identity of the historic palace. The exhibition will remain open in the Italian capital until September 20.
Gallery director Francesca Cappelletti said the initiative restores the original relationship between Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the building that houses the collection. The palace was redesigned during the 18th century to display works inspired by the 15 books of the celebrated poem. Ovid connected Greek and Roman myths through the recurring idea that people, animals and natural elements can continuously change form. Cappelletti described the classic as the second most illustrated book in Western tradition after the Bible.
The Roman presentation differs substantially from the version previously displayed in the Netherlands. Its curators adapted the exhibition to the architecture, permanent collection and historical purpose of the Borghese Gallery. Rather than presenting transformation only as a broad artistic subject, the new route concentrates directly on Ovid’s stories and their relationship with the palace. This setting allows the ancient text to interact with rooms and sculptures that were themselves conceived as tributes to its mythology.
Two masterpieces by Gian Lorenzo Bernini serve as the principal anchors of the exhibition. Apollo and Daphnecaptures the moment when the pursued young woman begins transforming into a laurel tree, while The Rape of Proserpina turns another Ovidian myth into an intense marble scene. Co-curator Frits Scholten said Bernini achieved the remarkable effect of making transformation appear physically present within stone. As visitors walk around the sculptures, their changing viewpoints reveal movement, tension and the transition between human and natural forms.
The exhibition begins with a section titled “Chaos and Creation,” featuring works by Hendrick Goltzius, Auguste Rodin and Constantin Brâncuși. The route continues through historical pieces associated with Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Correggio, Tintoretto, Peter Paul Rubens and Titian. Curators arranged the loans carefully to avoid disrupting the visual relationship with the gallery’s permanent collection. The chronological journey eventually reaches the 20th century and contemporary works by Korean artist Anicka Yi inspired by changing light in marine organisms.
The exhibition also explores why Ovid’s stories remain relevant approximately two thousand years after they were written. Scholten noted that the poem avoids imposing a single moral interpretation and instead raises questions that continue to resonate in modern societies. The myth of Hermaphroditus can be examined through contemporary discussions about gender fluidity, identity and bodily transformation. The final book also introduces Pythagorean ideas about souls moving between bodies, connecting the ancient text with debates about animals and vegetarianism.
Through these themes, the Borghese Gallery presents Ovid not as a distant classical author but as a continuing source of artistic and intellectual inquiry. The exhibition demonstrates how mythology has repeatedly been reinterpreted to address beauty, desire, violence, identity and the natural world. Its location gives the project additional significance because the palace itself was designed as a visual environment of transformation. Ovid has therefore returned to Rome through the sculptures, paintings and spaces that preserved his imagination across generations.
In the Borghese Gallery, ancient transformation becomes a living conversation between poetry, art and the present.