La Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna

While Rome is home to many ancient relics, ruins and artefacts, it is also a hub for contemporary artistic activity. 

The Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna hosts a wealth of paintings, sculptures, installations and other artworks mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. 

As part of our visit to this wonderful museum today, we were lucky enough to take part in a drawing workshop with art teachers José and Simona. 

We learned about the techniques of some of the old masters such as Leonardo Da Vinci, before having a crash course in perspective, how to sight measure, and how important mathematics, especially geometry, can be in art. 

Then we put our new-found knowledge straight into practice by sketching on-site, in the spacious halls of the gallery.

We saw works by artists like Antonio Canova, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, and Giacomo Balla (who painted Villa Borghese which is where the museum is located), as well as the Intertwingled exhibition in the Central Hall which brings together tapestries, carpets and other woven works which use traditional techniques in unexpected ways.

While we could have spent all day wandering around the expansive rooms of this fantastic museum, we had to go as our lunch was waiting for us. But the drawing tips and tricks we learnt today will follow us on our future journeys through art!