The exhibition “Van Cleef & Arpels: Time, Nature, Love”, leads to Palazzo Reale in Milan, until 23 February 2020, the universe of the Maison of High Jewelery through over 400 jewels, watches and precious objects made since its foundation in 1906.
For the first time in Italy, the exhibition celebrates the main and unique qualities of jewelry, such as combining eternity and ephemeral, love and craftsmanship, beauty and art. The exhibition is divided into three sections – Time, Nature, Love – and was conceived taking inspiration from Italo Calvino’s American lessons.
Archival documents, line drawings and gouache drawings testify to the origins of artistic creation by accompanying the precious specimens from the Van Cleef & Arpels Collection and private loans. In perpetual balance between the eternal and the ephemeral, between tradition and fashion, the art of jewelry maintains a complex relationship with time.
The exhibition itinerary illustrates Van Cleef & Arpels’ ability to interpret a fragmented time like that of the twentieth century and to represent both the perpetual values related to beauty and the fleeting power of seduction.
