Public Programmes: Online Learning
Michelangelo's Dream
18 February - 16 May 2010
Michelangelo’s masterpiece The Dream is one of the greatest of all Renaissance
drawings. This complex work shows a nude youth being roused by a winged spirit
from the vices that surround him.
The Dream was probably part of the celebrated group of drawings which Michelangelo made as gifts for Tommaso de' Cavalieri, a young Roman nobleman with whom he had fallen passionately in love. With loans from international collections, the exhibition unites The Dream for the first time with these extraordinary drawings.
Michelangelo’s Dream also included a selection of previously unexhibited handwritten
poems which the artist composed for Cavalieri. Further closely related drawings by
Michelangelo as well as works by Albrecht Dürer and others shed light on the meaning of Michelangelo’s enigmatic masterpiece.
- Watch three movies about the exhibition
- Listen to five podcasts of sonnets by Michelangelo
Works on Paper: Michelangelo's Dream in context
MICHELANGELO'S DREAM TEACHERS RESOURCE