After a four-year restoration, the Bardi Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, in which Giotto depicted scenes from the life of St Francis of Assisi in the early 14th century, has reopened. Ben Luke talks to Emanuela Daffra, superintendent of the Opficio delle Pietre Dure, which conserves Italian heritage, and Donata Grossoni, art historian at the Opera di Santa Croce, about the work and the project to restore it.
The restored Giotto frescoes on the walls and the vault of the Bardi Chapel
Courtesy Opera di Santa Croce
The 18th edition of the Biennale de Lyon called To pass from one dream to another, opens on Saturday, across France’s third largest city. This edition has been devised by the Australian-born, Berlin-based curator Catherine Nichols, and Ben speaks to her about the show.
Laure Prouvost's Hovering Caress Amère (2022-2026) at the Grandes Locos at the 18th Biennale d'art contemporain de Lyon
Courtesy of the artist and Horst Arts & Music. © ADAGP, Paris, 2026; Photo ©Blandine Soulage
And this episode’s Work of the Week is The Juggler (The Magician) by Remedios Varo, made in Mexico City in 1956. The painting is one of more than 70 works by the Spanish-born Surrealist in the first major survey of her work in Europe, which begins this week at the Louisiana Museum in Humlebæk in Denmark, and travels to the Moderna Museet in Stockholm next year. Ben speaks to Tere Arcq, the co-curator of the exhibition, about the painting.
Remedios Varo's The Juggler (1956)
© 2025 Digital image. The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence © 2026 Remedios Varo/VISDA
- The Bardi Chapel, Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, now open, santacroceopera.it
- The 18th Biennale de Lyon, To pass from one dream to another, opens on Saturday, 19 September and continues until 13 December
- Remedios Varo, Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark, Friday, 18 September until 10 January 2027. It travels to the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 2027.
