Chairperson of Qatar Museums H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, officials and guests during the opening of the exhibition yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar Museums (QM) yesterday opened ‘Giuseppe Penone: The Inner Flow of Life’, a major survey exploring Penone’s enduring interest in the synergies between artistic and natural processes, at the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ).
On view through February 13, 2027, the exhibition, co-curated by Artistic Director, Serpentine, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Head of International Exhibitions, Qatar Museums, Issa Al Shirawi, presents 25 artworks made between 1970 and 2026, revealing the Italian artist’s sustained fascination with the forces that shape both the natural world and the human body.
The exhibition brings together works from early in Penone’s career, including ‘Rovesciare i propri occhi’ (Reversing One’s Eyes) (1970), with those created just this year, such as Vene di bronzo (Bronze Veins) (2026), to trace how the artist has articulated themes such as touch, growth, pressure, memory, and transformation. In addition, Qatar Museums will install a new public sculpture by the artist, Idee di Pietra, at the Old Doha Port.
‘Giuseppe Penone: The Inner Flow of Life’ is organised across five custom-built pavilions in NMoQ’s Baraha, each dedicated to a material that has been at the centre of Penone’s practice (leaves, porcelain, thorns, marble, and leather). Putting works from different periods in conversation, the exhibition includes sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, and moving-image works to reveal Penone’s continued attention to the physical qualities of matter and to the marks produced by the human body upon its surroundings.
“The Inner Flow of Life” alludes to the concept that inspired the works I have created throughout my life. The observation and understanding that a tree is a fluid element—when considering its growth over time—lie at the heart of my vision of reality and of the connections our existence shares with the continuous flows of the matter of the world.
The architecture of the National Museum of Qatar in Doha is inspired by the crystals of the desert rose evoking the vitality and growth inherent in the mineral itself. Displayed in this extraordinary setting, my work engages in a dialogue with the country’s natural elements—water, sun, wind, and sand—and with the vital flow they embody,” said Giuseppe Penone.
