Visit to the Uffizi and the Corridoio Vasariano
November 2nd, 2009
Saturday was very exciting: The exchange students at my faculty were invited to visit the Galleria degli Uffizi and the Corridoio Vasariano. While the Galleria degli Uffizi – one of the most famous museums of the world – is of course open to the public, the Corridoio Vasariano is not. I consider myself very lucky to have visited it. In a month or so restoration will begin, so in the next couple of years even those who for some reason would have the privilege to visit it – like a handful of lucky exchange students – won’t be able to.
We had a very competent guide and even though we were a little short on time, she managed to get across a huge number of interesting facts about the paintings. Now that my curiosity has been awakened, I’m sure I will go back to the Uffizi to spend an additional couple of hours there.
What is the Galleria degli Uffizi?
The Galleria degli Uffizi is an art museum that hosts some of the most famous paintings of the world, mostly Renaissance. According to Wikipedia, it was visited by 1.5 million people (on average 4100 a day) in 2008. If you want to visit (and you should), it is preferable to book in advance and arrive early in the morning. If you don’t, waiting times can be up to 5 hours.
Among the paintings are works of famous masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer, Michelangelo and Rembrandt, to cite only the most famous.
What is the Corridoio Vasariano?
The Corridoio Vasariano is a corridor that leads from the Palazzo della Signoria (aka Palazzo Vecchio) to the Palazzo Pitti. Its purpose was to allow the members of the Medici family to move freely between the two palazzi avoiding contact with the population. In case of an unrest it would also have provided a quick way to exit the city, as the Palazzo Pitti was near the borders while the Palazzo della Signoria was right in the heart of it. The Corridoio Vasariano is over 1km long.
Today the Corridoio Vasariano is closed to the public and only guided tours are allowed (in 2009 from the 30th of september to the 18th of december). It hosts among other paintings a large collection of self-portraits.
This one is a self-portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (Paris 1755, Louveciennes 1842). As our guide explained, self-portraits are a way for an artist to present himself as he wants to be seen and are therefore often used to show off their accomplishments. Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun was called to create a portrait of Marie-Antoinette at the age of 23, and the queen was so impressed that she was soon asked to paint a number of other members of the royal family. She must have been very proud of this, and if I understood correctly, this self-portrait shows her working on a portrait of Marie-Antoinette. It was painted in Florence in 1790, where she was in exile during the French revolution.
The Corridoio Vasariano also hosts a painting by Marc Chagall, whom I like very much, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find it on the Internet. This may not be surprising, as it is forbidden to photograph the paintings.
I haven’t always been interested in art, but I find it very exciting to stand in front of a picture someone drew a couple of hundred years ago and try to understand what it means and what the painter must have thought while drawing it. Of course then there is the problem of knowing whether our interpretation is correct, but that is another story…
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