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Avedon’s first trip to Italy was in 1946, to a country still scarred by war. Since then, the artist has visited the peninsula several times, capturing its contradictions between beauty and devastation, between the grandeur of history and the resilience of the present. A new exhibition dedicated to Richard Avedon sheds light on a little-explored chapter in the great photographer’s career. More than twenty images taken on the streets of Rome, Sicily, and Venice sit alongside iconic portraits, revealing the evolution of his style. Eighteen of these photographs are from the series Italy (1946-1948), presented in its entirety for the first time. These are joined by images from 1946 depicting Zazi, a Roman street performer. The exhibition highlights the connections between the Italian works and Avedon’s later work. The famous portrait of Marilyn Monroe from 1957, with her lost look, recalls a Roman image from 1947. The same goes for the portrait of Ruby Holden from 1980, part of the series In the American West, which seems to be anticipated by a photograph taken in Rome. The self-portrait from 1963 echoes the pose of a young Sicilian captured by Avedon immediately after the war, with a proud and hopeful look.