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Photography, at its highest level, has the power to stop time and distill it to its essence. It is in this spirit that Rome pays tribute to Irving Penn, one of the undisputed masters of twentieth-century photography, through an exhibition that invites visitors to step into his rigorous and deeply human gaze. Penn transformed fashion, portraiture, and still life with a distinctive visual language: neutral backdrops, precise compositions, controlled light, and nothing superfluous. Whether photographing celebrities or people encountered during his travels, he was always searching for the same thing - the truth of the subject. His images, often made in the studio, are striking in their apparent simplicity and in the quiet intensity they convey. The exhibition traces more than sixty years of work, from his early photographs on the streets of New York and in postwar Europe - with a notable Roman chapter - to iconic portraits, sculptural nudes, fashion imagery for Vogue, and still lifes, where ordinary objects such as cigarette butts are transformed into images of unexpected beauty. Central to the show is Penn’s meticulous approach to printing: he oversaw every stage of the process, experimenting with refined techniques such as platinum printing to achieve timeless results. Produced in collaboration with the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, the exhibition also marks the official opening of Rome’s new Center for Photography, inaugurating a space dedicated to image culture with the authority of a true Master.