Texts by Cristina Acidini, Elena Capretti, Carlo Francini, Fabrizio Moretti, Dario Nardella, Edoardo Nesi, Joachim Pissarro, Sergio Risaliti, Norman Rosenthal, and Francesco Vossila

Jeff Koons In Florence highlights the phenomenological dialogue that emerges from an unprecedented union of new icons by the contemporary artist with masterpieces by Donatello and Michelangelo. For the first time in five hundred years, a sculpture by a contemporary artist has been placed on the raised podium in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, among the copies of Michelangelo’s David and other illustrious statues. This catalogue illustrates this historic happening with images of Koons’s monumental sculpture Pluto and Proserpina set in the incomparable setting of Piazza della Signoria. The journey continues inside the Palazzo Vecchio, as Koons’s Gazing Ball (Barberini Faun) graces the Sala dei Gigli, its striking pose opposite the magnificent original bronze statue of Judith and Holofernes by Donatello. 

Also included are interpretive essays that illuminate the light-hearted but refined play of quotations and cross-references, contrasts and comparisons between ancient and contemporary art that come alive in Jeff Koons In Florence. The book is enriched by numerous texts of internationally renowned critics which present many points of reflection, in particular on the specifics of this exhibition and in general on the body of work of one of the most important exponents of the Postmodern.