Lemon yellow, saturated blue, bright red, and sunny orange: color as therapy is the vibrant, vitamin-packed program of CHROMOTHERAPIA, the new exhibition at Villa Medici curated by Maurizio Cattelan and Sam Stourdzé.
Through the eyes of 19 groundbreaking artists, the exhibition retraces a different history of color photography throughout the 20th century, inviting viewers into a vivid and immersive journey across seven themed chapters. Here, color hits the retina and stimulates the mind, revealing photography not only as a documentary medium but as a powerful tool for imagination, emotion, and aesthetic transformation.
Once dismissed or treated as frivolous, color photography has become a bold language in its own right—flirting with Pop, Surrealism, Bling, Kitsch, and Baroque. Freed from the constraints of black and white and traditional documentary codes, these photographers used color to reimagine the world, create new visual identities, and amplify emotional impact.
From the earliest scientific experiments of the mid-19th century to the Lumière brothers’ Autochrome process in 1907, the history of color photography is a story of technical innovation and artistic liberation. Over time, color evolved from a visual embellishment into a narrative force—highlighting social paradoxes, redefining beauty standards, and infusing even the ordinary with intensity and flair.
CHROMOTHERAPIA explores color not just as a physical or perceptual phenomenon, but as a feeling—a sensation deeply connected to our psychological states. It is an invitation to perceive the world differently, and more intensely.
Whether it’s Martin Parr’s satirical take on consumer culture, Walter Chandoha’s humanizing portraits of cats, William Wegman’s iconic dogs, or Arnold Odermatt’s poetic images of road accidents, each artist offers a singular chromatic lens on the world. The exhibition is both playful and profound, kaleidoscopic and critical.
To prolong the sensory journey beyond the exhibition, the publication Chromotherapia: Feel-Good Color Photography (Damiani Books & Villa Medici), edited by Cattelan and Stourdzé, accompanies the show. The book dives deeper into the bold, ironic, and highly saturated world of these artists, capturing the emotional power of color in photography.

Exhibition Sections:

EARLY BIRDS
Erwin Blumenfeld, Harold Edgerton, Madame Yevonde, Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari)

RAINING CATS AND DOGS
Walter Chandoha, William Wegman, Toiletpaper

GLOSSY
Guy Bourdin, Hiro, Toiletpaper

FEMME FATALE
Adrienne Raquel, Miles Aldridge, Juno Calypso, Alex Prager, Toiletpaper

STRANGER THINGS
Arnold Odermatt, Sandy Skoglund

FOODORAMA
Martin Parr, Toiletpaper

MAKE A FACE
Hassan Hajjaj, Ouka Leele, Pierre et Gilles, Ruth Ginika Ossai, Toiletpaper

Artists:
Miles Aldridge, Erwin Blumenfeld, Guy Bourdin, Juno Calypso, Walter Chandoha, Harold Edgerton, Hassan Hajjaj, Hiro, Ouka Leele, Madame Yevonde, Arnold Odermatt, Ruth Ginika Ossai, Martin Parr, Pierre and Gilles, Alex Prager, Adrienne Raquel, Sandy Skoglund, Toiletpaper (Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari), William Wegman