Cézanne a Firenze, the triumph of a courageous project
The innovative exhibition held in Palazzo Strozzi, Florence closed yesterday:  a great success with the critics, over 260,000 visitors and a fall-out effect of 50 million in the area. The organizers comment on this extraordinary cultural event that surpasses even their rosiest expectations.

After running non-stop for 150 days and with the number of visitors totalling 260,858 (a daily average of 1,739) the glorious adventure of Cézanne a Firenze ended proving to be the year’s most talked about exhibition both in terms of its curatorial concept and its installation, constantly at the top of the Italian charts and acclaimed both by the critics and the public, who were captivated by the story of Egisto Paolo Fabbri and Charles Alexander Loeser, the two extraordinary collectors who made a remarkable contribution to the success of the ‘father of modern painting’ Paul Cézanne by gathering together some 50 of his most important paintings in their wealthy Florentine homes.

This success with the public set a new record for Florence, second only to the exhibition Botticelli e Filippino Lippi, which visited in 2004 by over 300 thousand visitors, which earned widespread international fame.  and attracted widespread international attention. For the world of culture the exhibition was an innovation, which in reviving a decisive, albeit almost forgotten episode in Italian twentieth century painting, suggested unusual perspectives on the art of the 20th century and focussed new attention on the early origins of modern and contemporary art.

From an economic point of view, Cézanne a Firenze has generated an impact of approximately € 50 million, roughly 13 Euros for every Euro invested. The calculation, made by CST (Centro Studi Turistici) institute, is based on a series of parameters, including the Banca d’Italia consumer prices bulletin. The unbundled data indicate over 124 thousand tourist visitors, 73 thousand residents in the province of Florence and 53 thousand excursionists (day-tripper visitors), who spent 46.8 million Euros for hotels, transport, restaurants, bars, visits to other museums and various purchases, to which 1.8 million must be added for admission tickets and bookshop purchases (Electa catalogue).

The exhibition was excellently curated by Francesca Bardazzi, well-known scholar of Cézanne collections in Italy and Carlo Sisi, one of the leading experts on that period and former director of Palazzo Pitti’s Modern Art Gallery. The satisfaction of those who lay claim to the exhibition’s paternity, the Gruppo Banca CR di Firenze in primis, responsible for the project and production, therefore, goes without saying.

“The success of Cézanne a Firenze”, affirms its president Edoardo Speranza, “exceeds even our wildest expectations, not only in terms of number of visitors, but also of cultural participation in the event, and in particular in the reconsideration of that end nineteenth-century Florentine milieu, so refined, learned and appealing, which made the city an international centre of avant-garde trends and design. This was the ulterior purpose of the Ente, in line with its ambitious project to make an effective contribution  to the return of  Florence to its position of a specialized cosmopolitan city, with a significant role in the context of globalized current events”.

For the Fondazione Strozzi, responsible for producing the event, director James Bradburne emphasizes an undeniable aspect of the success of Cézanne a Firenze: the possibility of organizing exhibitions which are at the same time intelligent, accessible and popular. “This stimulating result”, he adds, “is due mostly to the influence of the history of the first two Cézanne collectors and to the appeal of an exhibition set-up that caters for specialists and a visitors of all ages”.

Cézanne a Firenze was also gratified by the high patronage of the President of the Republic and, because of its importance, the exhibition has been included in the Progetto Magnifico, the integrated system of communication and promotion of the Ministry of Cultural Property and Activities. In addition to its main sponsor, the Gruppo Banca CR Firenze, the event prompted the mobilization of various business categories and the unprecedented collaboration of numerous Florentine cultural associations who participated with various promotions and initiatives.