The Swiss Institute of Rome hosts the exhibition "The rainbow rests on the street" from 29 October until 12 February 2023.

«When someone speaks a new language of their own, which no one yet understands, sometimes they have to wait a long time before hearing its echo» — Meret Oppenheim (1913-85) on the occasion of her speech at the 1975 Basel Art Prize .

In the wake of the almost ubiquitous retrospectives dedicated to the Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim, the Roman exhibition The Rainbow Rests on the Road (the title derives from a poem written by the artist in 1933) investigates precisely this echo.

A selection of works by Meret Oppenheim is brought into dialogue with works by artists of a recent generation. Meret Oppenheim's courageous personality, worldview and artistic practice continue to fascinate today: the exploration of the subconscious, of dreams, of the link between visual and lyrical creation, the reflection on her position as a 'female artist among the artists' (as she wrote to her parents in the 1930s) and her active participation in the feminist debates of the following years, are still very current themes in the contemporary art scene.

The artists invited to the exhibition – Pascale Birchler, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Hunter Longe, Lou Masduraud, Luzie Meyer and Ser Serpas – present new and existing works in response to these themes, generating a sort of 're-reading' of the poetics of Meret Oppenheim.