In spring 2025, the masterpieces of two protagonists of European art between the 19th and 20th centuries, Alphonse Mucha and Giovanni Boldini, extraordinary singers of beauty and feminine charm, will be exhibited at Palazzo dei Diamanti.

Artist of Czech origins, Alphonse Mucha (Ivancice, 1860 - Prague, 1939) achieved international fame in fin de siècle Paris. Although known worldwide for the posters of the shows of the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt, Mucha was versatile and multifaceted: in addition to being a painter, draftsman, and illustrator, he was also a photographer, set designer, interior designer, jewelry creator, and packaging designer. His works soon became emblematic of the emerging Art Nouveau, to whose affirmation he contributed by developing an unmistakable and seductive style (known as "Le style Mucha"), as demonstrated by Gismonda (1894), the series of The Seasons (1896), Job (1896), Fantasy (1897), Medea (1898). When he visited the United States for the first time in 1904, the press celebrated him as "the greatest decorative artist in the world."
The major monographic exhibition, organized by Arthemisia and Fondazione Ferrara Arte in collaboration with the Mucha Foundation and curated by Sarah and John Mucha, tells the biography, artistic journey, and multiple aspects of Mucha's production, who was firmly convinced that the beauty and inspiring power of art could promote the progress of humanity and ensure peace and unity among peoples.

Graceful and elegant women were the undisputed protagonists not only of Alphonse Mucha's works, but also of those of Giovanni Boldini (Ferrara, 1842 - Paris, 1931) who, like the Czech artist, resided permanently in Paris, where he established himself as a society portraitist, highly sought after by a wealthy international clientele. The rooms of the Tisi wing of Palazzo dei Diamanti will host a significant selection of paintings, drawings, and engravings dedicated to the theme of portraiture and the female figure from the Giovanni Boldini Museum, the most important public collection of works by the great Ferrarese master, which will reopen in the renovated Ferrarese complex of Palazzo Massari in 2026. Alongside masterpieces such as The Lady in Pink (1916) and Fireworks (c. 1890), studies of full-length women and individual female faces will be presented, documenting the artist's hyperactive relationship with the surrounding reality, as well as his skill and readiness in capturing poses and attitudes that he would later use to infuse vitality and dynamism into the protagonists of his paintings, characterized by that peculiarly rapid yet controlled handwriting that makes his style unmistakable and unique.