Firenze's Art Scene

I am becoming more aware of certain scenes, that is, specific sites that seem to create, facilitate, or draw a community of creativity during a specific era. For example, in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson’s character yearns for the art scene of Paris circa 1920. Through my travels I am learning the extent of the symbiotic nature between an art scene and its location. The location provides a sense of community to the artists, and a culture as a baseline or starting point at least to integrate or build off of for work. In return, the location of that art scene receives tattoos of its cultural influence for that particular era that live on through passages in books, subjects and scenes in photos and paintings, and rhythmically through music.

Through my time in Florence, I am learning about the House of Medici’s heavy influence on the arts in Italy during the Renaissance. The Medici family grew their wealth with starting a bank, gaining political prowess through the Tuscan state, marrying royalty, and even producing a few Popes in the process. This money allowed them to provide financial support to Brunelleschi, Fra Angelico, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Da Vinci.

With the death of Anna Maria Luisa de Medici, the house was extinct. Anna Maria bequeathed the entire Medici estate, including their massive art collection, to the Tuscan state, provided that it never left Florence. Say what you will about the Medici’s, but to me, that is incredible civic loyalty and passion. This donation was the cornerstone of the Uffizi, one of the world’s best collections of Italian Renaissance art.

I can see why Florence would be a flourishing art scene, even aside from the influence of the Medici family. The city is small enough to foster a strong sense of community, but large enough to have a wide sampling of people. The Tuscan hills are omnipresent, but not in a looming way: Florence, to me, is a very open and free city. Oh, and the wine doesn’t hurt either.

I wonder what we will consider to be the biggest art scene of the early 21^st century. Looking at the patterns of power and economic influence and the weight that that has afforded people to spend more on artistic pursuits, it makes sense to me why France, Italy, and England were major art scenes at the times that they were. Following this pattern, in combination with my limited observation of what is happening where in the world today, I would say New York or perhaps somewhere in California.  Another real possibility could be that with the dawn of globalization, such art scenes will be harder to localize to just one geographic area.