Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway

Photo from Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway on December 2, 2010

December 3, 2010 – January 6, 2011

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This exhibition is now closed. Please return to Arts at the Armory for upcoming programs.

“a bold and utterly distinctive multimedia artist” – The Guardian (London)

Visionary artist and filmmaker Peter Greenaway brings new insight into one of the world’s most celebrated masterpieces in his multimedia reverie of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Set within a full-scale replica of the dome of Refectory of Santa Maria Delle Grazie in Milan, the home of the original painting, a meticulously detailed facsimile of The Last Supper is brought to life through Greenaway’s ingenious manipulation of light, sound, and theatrical illusion. Visitors navigate a series of vivid audio-visual environments that provoke new ways of seeing this iconic work.

Leonardo’s Last Supper is part of Greenaway’s ongoing series Ten Classic Paintings Revisited in which the artist creates a dialogue “between 8,000 years of art and 112 years of cinema.” The Armory’s presentation marks the first time that one of Greenaway’s critically acclaimed artistic installations is mounted in the United States.

A short preview of Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision By Peter Greenaway

Recent Press
Click here to read The New York Times review from December 3, 2010

Click Here to read The Wall Street Journal review from December 3, 2010

Click here to view The New York Times preview article from August 23, 2010.

Click here to listen to an interview of Peter Greenaway by the Guardian’s Robert Booth.

Click here to read Jonathan Jones’ review of Peter Greenaway’s Last Supper in Milan, 2008
”...an audacious act - and a triumph”

More Press


About Peter Greenaway
Born in Wales and based in Amsterdam, Peter Greenaway is an acclaimed filmmaker and multimedia artist. Greenaway trained as a painter at Walthamstow College of Art in London before moving into film in 1966. He has made twelve feature films and some 50 short-films and documentaries, and has been nominated for the film festival competitions of Cannes, Venice, and Berlin. His first narrative feature film, The Draughtsman¹s Contract, completed in 1982, received great critical acclaim and established him internationally as an original film maker—a reputation consolidated by his subsequent films The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & her Lover and The Pillow-book, The Tulse Luper Suitcases, and most recently by Nightwatching

Greenaway’s work in film has informed his installation work as well as his work as a curator at venues ranging from the Palazzo Fortuny in Venice and the Joan Miro Gallery in Barcelona, to the Boymans van Beuningen Gallery in Rotterdam and the Louvre in Paris. He has also written opera librettos and collaborated with composers such as Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, Louis Andriessen, and David Lang.

Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway is part of the artist’s ambitious ongoing series Ten Classic Paintings Revisited, an exploration of works from around the world that encourages viewers to “retrain their gaze” when experiencing classical and Renaissance painting, and that creates dialogue between this age-old medium and modern technology. Greenaway launched the series in 2006 with an evocative multimedia exploration of Rembrandt’s Nightwatch in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In June 2008, he staged a one-night-only event with the original Last Supper in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. In June 2009 Greenaway exhibited his digital exploration of The Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese during the 2009 Biennale di Venezia and the film The Marriage about the same painting and installation at the Venice Biennial Film Festival. Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway builds on the artist’s previous presentations based on The Last Supper, fusing elements from his extensive study of thousands of years of painting to create a spectacular and unforgettable encounter.


with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities / Superintendency for Architectural and Environmental Heritage of Milan in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan/Culture, the Italian Trade Commission (ITC) and supported by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Robert Lehman Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties.

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Photo: Installation view of Leonardo’s Last Supper by Peter Greenaway at the Palazzo Reale, Milan in 2008. Photo courtesy Luciano Romano/Change Performing Arts.
Video: Peter Greenaway and Change Performing Arts

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

This exhibition is now closed. Please return to Arts at the Armory for upcoming programs.

Open Hours

December 3, 2010 – January 6, 2011
Tuesdays – Sundays
11:00am – 8:00pm
(Showings are on the hour starting at 12:00pm and last approximately 45 minutes. Last showing of the day is 7:00pm)

Closed Mondays,
except Monday, December 27
11:00am – 8:00pm
Closed December 25 (Christmas Day)

Holiday Hours

(Showings are on the hour starting at 12:00pm and last approximately 45 minutes. Last showing of the day is 3:00pm except on New Years Day)
December 24 (Christmas Eve)
11:00am – 4:00pm
December 31 (New Years Eve)
11:00am – 4:00pm
January 1, 2011 (New Years Day)
11:00am – 8:00pm (last showing at 7:00pm)

Admission

$15 General Admission
$12 Park Avenue Armory Members, Students (with ID), Seniors,
Groups (12 or more)
FREE: Children 10 and under

Armory members may call (212) 616-3958 to obtain their discount code for online ordering.

Group discounts will be automatically applied when 12 or more tickets are purchased via online ordering.

Buy Tickets
Or purchase tickets by calling the
Park Avenue Armory Ticket Hotline
(212) 933-5812 (11am–8pm Daily)

Public Programs

Duplicating da Vinci: The Art of Cloning a Masterpiece
Lecturer Adam Lowe, Founder and Director of Factum Arte
Wednesday, December 1
6:30pm – 8:00pm
Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.

Artist Talk: A Conversation with Peter Greenaway
Saturday, December 4
10:30am – 12:00pm
This Event is SOLD OUT!

Family Programming

Saturday, December 11th
10:30am-12:30pm
Sunday, December 12th
10:30am-12:30pm

Families will have the opportunity to participate in interactive workshops that guide participants to create their own visual art response to Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway.

Click here for more information.

Download the full House Program