Connections/Genoa

My name is Xavier Salomon. I'm a curator in the department of European paintings, and I will be talking about Genoa.

I grew up in Rome, and lived in Italy most of my young life. Most people think of Rome, think of Florence, think of Venice, as far

as I'm concerned, they are sort of amusement parks for tourists in a way. Genoa's remained the real thing. It is a city

that's closed geographically between the sea and the mountains. You feel you've left the rest of the world behind, and you're in a little area that's away from the rest, and I enjoy that.

It's also a city of huge contrasts. Elegant, refined, but it's also seedy

decadent and falling apart in a way. And I like the contrast between those things.

I find the idea of traveling and exotic aspects of the world is very much linked with Genoa. America is discovered by a Genoese man. And when I go to Genoa, I stay with a friend. From

his windows, I can see the prison where Marco Polo wrote his travel book.

The medallion reminds me of traveling through the land of Khubilai Khan and I always wonder if Marco Polo had something like that when he was traveling.

I think of Genoa when I think of everyday life that we use, we eat, we wear. Pesto, for example, is a common sauce for pasta or salad, but of course it's invented in Genoa.

Genoa also produced extraordinary fabrics. Amazing velvets like this example. It's amazing to think that at the same time, the Genoese invented

jeans. I like to think of cowboys in the west wearing something that was invented for sailors in the Renaissance on the other side of the Atlantic. This

jock strap, it's not something I would necessarily ever wear, but it seems to encapsulate that idea of something that's made with a very simple fabric and yet the effect is very over the top.

Andrea Doria, the great revival of art in Genoa in the sixteenth century is basically due to him.

We have designs for tapestries like the beautiful Perino del Vaga. But we

also have tapestries of the months, but there are another three that are still in the palace where he lived.

The idea of building the biggest, tallest buildings made out of glass and metal in America, is the same idea in Genoa in the seventeenth century.

When you see palaces in Genoa you always have this sense that everything is filled to the maximum.

The doors of Palazzo Correga Cataldi are made out of mirror and gilded wood.

I like to get lost looking at them and just following the lines and

it's this series of curved lines that goes over and over and sort of seems to never stop.

I find that people are reflected by the city they live in. It's a bit like the dog resembling his owner. And we have a portrait of a Genoese woman. When I look at her, I think of the Genoese women today.

When I see Gerard David's Annunciation, I don't really think of the Netherlands, but actually think of the church for which it was painted in Genoa, one of the most beautiful places on the earth.

It's on the seaside, and I think of the waves crashing underneath the church and I think of the wisteria in spring there. It's just magical to think of a picture like this, that would have been in a place like that.

I don't know if my attitude changes because I'm there, or if I'm there because that's the city that my attitude works with. It's definitely a

symbiotic relationship. There are times when I wonder if I lived there in a previous life. It's a strange effect of

feeling at home in a place that is a foreign place, effectively.