Naples' 2023 opens under the banner of beauty and art. There are numerous exhibitions and events that characterize the city's January, opportunities to start the year as best as one could. 

In this particular case, we have selected 6 exhibitions in particular, ranging from contemporary art, photography and classically inspired sculptures. In short, a big artistic baggage all to be discovered and experienced firsthand. 

6. David Bowie: The Passenger. By Andrew Kent

We start with a musical exhibition, with a journey inside the public and private life of David Bowie, six years after his death. We are at the Palazzo delle Arti in Naples, in the Chiaia district, where the exhibition will run until Jan. 29. It will be experienced through 60 photographs and memoirs by the great photographer Andrew Kent, a great friend of the artist. In addition, there will also be about 90 heirlooms and private affections that will create further connection with the author. Special emphasis is placed on Bowie's late 1970s, the period of the Station to Station album and the tour between Canada, the U.S. and Europe. The historical context of the Cold War lends further fascination to an exhibition already full of beauty and must-see curiosities. 

5. Degas. The return to Naples

Next stop is a journey inside the bewitching French Impressionism with the exhibition "Degas. The Return to Naples," dedicated precisely to the historic French painter. The event will begin on Jan. 14 and close on April 10, taking place at the Complesso Monumentale di San Domenico Maggiore in the historic center. This is the first time that an exhibition will be dedicated to Edgar Degas in the Neapolitan city, so the anticipation is really high. The main emphasis will be on the relationship between the artist and Naples, given also his origins, with his grandfather Hilaire who settled in the Campania capital during revolutionary uprisings in Paris. Mostly rare works, which have been little transmitted to the public, will be presented. However, there will be no lack of "his" dancers, a theme so dear to him that he often represented; the latter will be exhibited both in sculpture and in splendid and rare etchings and Heliogravures. In short, we are talking about an absolute novelty not to be missed for any reason. 

4. Art and sensuality in the houses of Pompeii

We are moving quite a bit from the center of Naples, heading precisely to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, for an exhibition with a deadline of January 15, so there is a need to hurry. Let's talk about "Art and Sensuality in the Houses of Pompeii," where the great importance of sensuality in the domus and in the life of Pompeians of the Roman age is illustrated. Here we find 70 works on display, some even discovered only recently. Two examples are the two bronze medallions with erotic scenes from the ceremonial chariot from Civita Giuliana and the exquisite cubiculum (bedroom) ceiling found in collapse on the floor of the House of Leda and the Swan. All, of course with the opportunity to enjoy all the enchanting beauty of the artistic site. 

3. Gian Paolo Barbieri. Out of Time

We return to give space to photography with the exhibition "Out of Time," or photographs by Gian Paolo Barbieri, one of the greatest exponents of the subject along the 20th century. We return among the Neapolitan neighborhoods, quite close to the event dedicated to David Bowie mentioned earlier. We are in Via Gaetano Filangieri, at the Al Blu di Prussia gallery. Here we find on display until next January 28 18 large black and white images selected from those taken from the Sea Trilogy "Madagascar, Tahiti Tattoos, Equator" and "Dark Memories." In addition, 24 almost all unpublished polaroids mostly taken in Seychelles between 1986 and 2006 have been added. An absolute spectacle for all lovers of photography and, who knows, maybe even for those who are not lovers of this art. 

2. Sacred spirits. The Songye in the Palatine Chapel

We totally change artistic branches, diverting to sculpture, where until January 15 at the Maschio Angioino there is a curious and interesting exhibition not to be missed. We are precisely in the Palatine Chapel, the scene of the event "Sacred Spirits. The Songye in the Palatine Chapel." It is the presentation of the traditional sculpture of the Songye, that is, an African ethnic group settled in a large territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a new exhibition in Italy, since Songye art has never been brought to the Belpaese. The subjects depicted are mainly magical-protective objects made thanks to the cohesion between sculptors, blacksmiths and ritual specialists who activated them through chants, prayers and the addition of animal and natural elements. In short, a totally new exhibition to be discovered. 

1. The other half of art - Marisa Albanese / The relevance of the classic

Closing dedicated again to sculpture, this time totally changing context and style, diving into the classical style. We are at the Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples on Via Santa Maria di Costantinopoli, where in the Spazio Lea Vergine we will find two exhibitions a year for three years, which will be dedicated to figures embracing the themes of classical, nature and the body. The first appointment is dedicated to Marisa Albanese, an artist who has always been attentive to the enigmas of language and image, with her reflections on the body and the meaning of the work of art. The works in the exhibition "Actuality of the Classic" are a kind of alphabet, a glossary to recode human existence, with the aim of regularizing thought and emotional force. In short, a complex journey within the artist's artistic universe. The 27th January will be the last day of the exhibition.