From 28 May to 2 October 2022 Palazzo Attems Petzenstein in Gorizia presents the Riflessi exhibition. Self-portraits in the mirror of history , an exhibition project curated by Johannes Ramharter and Raffaella Sgubin with the collaboration of Lorenzo Michelli and Vanja Strukelj, composed of almost seventy works, most of which coming from prestigious Austrian institutions, dedicated to portraiture and self-portrait in painting, from the mid-sixteenth century to the contemporary.

The exhibition is part of the broader exhibition project focused on the theme of self-portrait and artist portrait promoted and developed by ERPAC in the Friuli Venezia Giulia area: in Trieste (Magazzino delle Idee) with the photographic exhibition Io, lei, l' other. Photographic portraits and self-portraits of women artists, in Gradisca d'Isonzo (Luigi Spazzapan Regional Gallery of Contemporary Art) with the exhibition of photography and site-specific works Artista+Artist . Contemporary visions and now with the Gorizia Riflessi exhibition. Self-portraits in the mirror of history, to which will be added in June, at the Revoltella Museum in Trieste, Through the face, a selection from the museum's prestigious collection of self-portraits.

The four exhibitions, overall, intend to question the artists, protagonists of art, trying to give voice to their ambitions, their illusions, their tragic defeats: they want to look at the "Artist" through the eyes of the "artists", grasp his the image, in its “mythical” dimension, through its projection in portraits and self-portraits. A multifaceted story, which unfolds in different chapters, focusing each time on the many possible perspectives that the theme of self-representation ends up intercepting.

Of this project, the exhibition Riflessi. Self-portraits in the mirror of history represents the necessary introductory premise. The almost seventy works on display, mostly arriving in Gorizia from prestigious Austrian museums, such as the Belvedere in Vienna, outline an itinerary in eight sections, which develops over a chronological period that goes from the mid-sixteenth century to the contemporary. Precisely this wide-ranging historical perspective allows us to highlight the strength of iconographic models that are re-proposed over the centuries, but also the profound transformations that are hidden behind, at times, even small variations.