Wangechi Mutu’s Artworks Animate the Dazzling 17th-Century Rooms of Galleria Borghese in Rome

On view through September 14, “Black Soil Poems” is the latest installment in the institution’s new series devoted to female talents

Ornate gallery with a central marble sculpture surrounded by classical busts and intricate flooring and walls.
Prayers (2020) and Older Sisters (2019) by Wangechi Mutu, part of her exhibition “Black Soil Poems,” at the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Photo: © GALLERIA BORGHESE

In a captivating dialogue between past and present, artist Wangechi Mutu has transformed the magnificent 17th-century rooms and gardens of Rome’s Galleria Borghese with new site-specific pieces as well as iconic pieces from her oeuvre.

A dramatic brown sculpture in an ornate gallery room with red walls and framed paintings, including a large painting over a fireplace.
Wangechi Mutu, Throned I. Photo: © Galleria Borghese
Art gallery with framed paintings on red walls and two large modern sculptures hanging from ropes in the foreground.
Wangechi Mutu, First Weeping Head and Second Weeping Head, (2025). Photo: © Galleria Borghese

“A fragmented world and time whose material details are observed with metaphorical resonance, Mutu’s work encourages us to look more intensely not only at contemporary creativity but also at the space and the works of the museum,” says director Francesca Cappelletti of the institution’s first solo exhibition featuring a living woman artist. On view through September 14, “Black Soil Poems” is the latest installment in a new series devoted to female talents.

Historic villa with formal garden featuring symmetrical paths and manicured greenery under a clear blue sky.
Wangechi Mutu, Nyoka I. Photo: © GALLERIA BORGHESE
Bronze statues sit on pedestals outside a historic building with arched windows and ornate ironwork on a sunny day.
Wangechi Mutu, The Seated I and The Seated IV (2019). Photo: © GALLERIA BORGHESE

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2025 Fall Issue in the section “Artful Life.” Subscribe to the magazine.