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until 27.06. | #5074ARTatBerlin | Galerie feinart berlin shows from Thursday, 21. May 2026 the exhibition L’orto dei sogni by the artist Mariella Ridda.
L’orto dei sogni. It is truly a “Garden of Dreams” into which Mariella Ridda invites us. The artist explores contemporary themes such as the fragility of the world, the experience of disorientation, unrest, and violence, and through her paintings creates positive, energetic alternative worlds that call for empathy, transformation, and a new beginning.
Typical of Mariella Ridda, who earned her diploma in painting from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples in 1991, are solitary figures in an introspective pose, often with their eyes closed as they listen inward, silent and contemplative. The object of their attention lies beyond the visible world, to which they nevertheless maintain a connection through arms and hands that cradle, hold, and protect animals, fruits, and flowers. In works such as “Maternitá” (2026), in which a mother protectively holds a fish in her lap, or in “Tra fiori e molograni” (2026), in which a child whispers its doubts and fears to the flowers, a recurring theme of the painter’s work is expressed: the spiritual dimension of physical gestures and her sense that these can reach into the very core of our feelings and needs. The body becomes an extension of the soul.
Almost as a counterpoint to the delicacy and contemplative nature of her figurative motifs, Mariella Ridda’s vibrant color palette radiates an enormous power and dynamism. These are the hues of spring and summer, of the sun, lightness, and vitality, which shine forth from the figures —or through them. In the mutual interpenetration of figure and color, the theoretical separation of soul and body, of inner and outer world, loses its validity. In the artist’s paintings, the colors of a blossoming nature have detached themselves from their subjects and taken on a life of their own, becoming a celebration of artistic imagination and freedom. One might think these spaces of color are the soul gardens for their figures.
The exhibition “L’orto dei sogni” focuses on works in which Ridda places her figures in dialogue with nature. Butterflies, chameleons, turtles, fish, jellyfish; berries, artichokes, pumpkins, apples, pears… while themes such as touch and contemplation in the “Embraces” (from 2013) relate to the interpersonal, social level and, in the “Introspections” (from 2022) focus on humans and their relationship to themselves, here we encounter the idea of a substantial kinship between humans and their existential questions, and the creatures of nature.
The interpretive horizon drawn from the natural world that the artist opens up in her current works is immense—think of the fish as a symbol of life and fertility, or the fruit as a symbol of femininity, procreation, and origin—while at the same time addressing contemporary ecological issues. In the truest sense of the word, we hold nature in our hands. In both directions of interpretation, we discover with Mariella Ridda an empathetic power for ourselves, our coexistence, nature, and a shared reality.
Opening: Thursday, 21. May 2026 6:00-9:00 pm | 7:00 pm Official welcome speech
Exhibition dates: Thursday, 21. May until Saturday, 27. June 2026
To the gallery
Titel image caption: Mariella Ridda, © feinartberlin
Exhibition Mariella Ridda – Galerie feinart berlin | Zeitgenössische Kunst Berlin – Contemporary Art – Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
