Reflections on BrancusiFrom March 26 2026
- Mar 26
- 4 min read
In 2026, to mark the 150th anniversary of Constantin Brancusi’s birth, Galerie Negropontes inaugurates a new exhibition cycle titled Reflections on Brancusi, comprising two exhibitions in Paris and one in Venice. The Venetian chapter, on view from 26 March 2026 at Galerie Negropontes in the Palazzina Masieri, explores a dialogue between art and architecture. Curated by Galerie Negropontes in collaboration with Heritage Asset Management, the exhibition unfolds within a building redesigned by Carlo Scarpa in the 1960s. The Palazzina Masieri offers an exceptional setting for a contemporary interpretation of Brancusi’s legacy, where photography and sculpture enter into conversation.
Reflections on Brancusi, Venice unfolds across three floors and centres on Dan Er. Grigorescu’s photographs of Brancusi’s work. These photographs are shown in dialogue with works by contemporary artists represented by the gallery, highlighting the continuity of a sculptural approach defined by purity, formal tension and the interplay between material and space—concerns that lie at the heart of Brancusi’s legacy and continue to inform contemporary practice. A self-taught photographer with a deep admiration for the radical innovation of Brancusi’s sculpture, Dan Er. Grigorescu produced a series of photographs devoted exclusively to the sculptor’s works in Romania. This project led to the publication of a book in 1967; the photographs were later exhibited at the Romanian Pavilion at the 1982 Venice Biennale.
Working exclusively in black and white and favouring natural light without filters, Grigorescu believed this approach lent his photographs greater purity, monumental force and heightened dramatic intensity. Through tight framing, cropped forms, bold close-ups and dark backgrounds that isolate the sculptures from their surroundings, he developed a photographic language that was particularly innovative for its time. The strong contrasts of the silver gelatin prints capture the sculptures in their most essential and analytical dimension, echoing Brancusi’s own vision for his work. Twelve of these photographs are now held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou.
On the ground floor, the exhibition opens with a space reminiscent of Brancusi’s studio. Mauro Mori’s sculptures are stacked in a manner that recalls the master’s own practice, with one piece serving as the base for another. Like Brancusi, Mori gravitates towards archetypal forms, stripped of superfluous detail in pursuit of an essential, primal geometry. He works the material as if seeking a “vibratory” presence—an internal energy or telluric force. Working exclusively with natural materials such as Albizia rosa wood, an invasive species from the Seychelles, Mori sculpts with profound respect for the material’s history and structure.
His functional wood and stone pieces, with their instantly recognisable forms, also serve as pedestals for his marble sculptures, including Hoor and Both, which possess a hieratic, emotive quality. Red Variations, a set of four elements that can be wall-mounted or freestanding, extends this exploration through an engagement with imaginary biology and organic abstraction, resonating directly with Brancusi’s universe. Echoing this relationship, two abstract photographs by Dan Er. Grigorescu depicting Brancusi’s Torso intensify the atmosphere of the exhibition, recalling the sculptural “duos” conceived by Carlo Scarpa.
The first floor brings together paired works by Mircea Cantor and Gianluca Pacchioni. Mircea Cantor’s sculptures form part of a profound reflection on heritage, responsibility and the verticality of being. The series Add Verticality to Your Seat (To Socrates) is crafted from century-old oak and cherry wood sourced from northern Romania, carved using traditional techniques and motifs. These elegant forms—reminiscent of chairs that appear to have taken on a life of their own—function as abstract portraits of Socrates, evoking his role as a defendant and his ultimate condemnation for his beliefs. The added verticality becomes a symbol of intellectual resistance, echoing Socratic doctrines of doubt and speech as foundational acts.
In dialogue with these works are two sculptures from the series Take the World into the World. These oak spheres, encircled by carved rope motifs, are presented in two different scales—one approximately sixty centimetres in diameter, the other thirty. They evoke condensed worlds, serving as both symbolic weights and vessels of containment, as if the material itself holds a narrative ready to unfold.
Completing the space are two previously unseen carved wooden sculptures: one pays homage to Brancusi’s Endless Column, while the other references his singular work Borne-frontière. Finally, two unconventional new mirror works highlight Cantor’s multidisciplinary practice while paying tribute to the Venetian tradition of glassmaking. To create these unique pieces, the artist used acid to leave the imprint of his own hands on the surface.
Gianluca Pacchioni’s Egg Static III and IV—sculptures in Echo onyx mounted on iron bases—embody a restrained verticality and a tension between stability and elevation, recalling Brancusi’s Bird in Space. Continuing this exploration, the Egg Static series investigates the point of equilibrium as a site where extreme strength and fragility coexist. Here, balance is presented as a moment of tension and precariousness, in which the power of form emerges from vulnerability.
Two glass totems created by Perrin & Perrin specifically for this exhibition extend this exploration of balance and rhythm. They enter into direct dialogue with Carlo Scarpa’s architecture, whose rigorous proportions and vertical circulation shape the visitor’s experience of the space.
Finally, on the top floor, the “duo” expands into a series in which Dan Er. Grigorescu’s black-and-white photographs are shown alongside colour works by Mircea Cantor. Both are dedicated to Brancusi’s monumental installation in Târgu Jiu. This visual juxtaposition highlights the spatial and monumental scale of Brancusi’s work—conceived as an inseparable whole of sculpture, path and landscape—while revealing how it has been interpreted across two different eras.
This presentation coincides with the publication of a new book by EXB featuring Mircea Cantor’s photographs of Târgu Jiu, alongside the reissue of Dan Er. Grigorescu’s original volume. Together, these publications extend the exhibition’s reflection on the enduring relevance of Brancusi’s thought.
Through this exhibition, Galerie Negropontes offers a renewed perspective on Brancusi’s legacy. Rather than presenting it as a static monument, the gallery frames it as a living concept that continues to resonate with contemporary practice and sits naturally within Scarpa’s architecture.
