WOMEN POWER
Open from March 22, 2025, to September 21, 2025
Wednesday to Sunday: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM / 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Closed on Monday and Tuesday
TICKETS: Full price €10
The Villa Bassi Rathgeb Museum, located just a few meters from the AbanoRitz, presents the photography exhibition WOMEN POWER. The Female Universe in Magnum Agency Photographs from the Post-War Period to Today. Curated by Walter Guadagnini and Monica Poggi, this extraordinary exhibition explores, through the iconic images of MAGNUM Photos, the role of women from the post-war era to the present day, highlighting the strength and complexity of their path toward emancipation and the social transformations that have shaped women’s lives over the past seventy years.
Magnum Photos is one of the world’s most prestigious photography agencies, founded in 1947 by legendary photographers Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David Seymour. Known for its documentary and humanistic approach, Magnum has captured some of the most significant moments in modern history. The agency brings together independent photographers who maintain control over their work, ensuring authenticity and creative freedom.
WOMEN POWER focuses on two complementary aspects: the women photographers who tell reality through a unique vision and the women portrayed, who emerge as powerful subjects through the lenses of Magnum.
The exhibition unfolds through six thematic sections, exploring family context, growth, identity, the myths of beauty and fame, political struggles, and war. Each theme is represented by works from some of Magnum Photos’ most important female photographers, including Inge Morath, Eve Arnold, Olivia Arthur, Myriam Boulos, Bieke Depoorter, Nanna Heitmann, Susan Meiselas, Lúa Ribeira, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Marilyn Silverstone, and Newsha Tavakolian. Internationally renowned artists appear alongside emerging contemporary photographers, showcasing reportages from diverse historical and geographical contexts, ranging from portraits of Marilyn Monroe to images of FARC female fighters in Colombia.
The exhibition highlights a dialogue between styles, languages, and generations, creating a unique and unconventional interplay of voices and perspectives.
WOMEN POWER also features works by celebrated photographers such as Robert Capa, Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt, Rafal Milach, Paolo Pellegrin, and Ferdinando Scianna, who have powerfully documented women’s struggles and rights throughout history.
The Villa Bassi Rathgeb complex (formerly Secco, Dondi dall’Orologio, and Zasio) fully embodies the typology of the “Venetian villa,” a place for agricultural activity that, according to classical ideals, is linked to a healthy lifestyle. Villa Dondi dall’Orologio is a historic residence located in Abano Terme, just a few meters from AbanoRitz, in the province of Padua. The villa is associated with the Dondi dall’Orologio family, known for the contributions of Jacopo Dondi, a 14th-century physician, astronomer, and clockmaker from Padua, famous for constructing the astronomical clock of Padua in 1344.
Today, Villa Bassi houses a collection of over 400 works, including paintings, drawings, engravings, miniatures, archaeological artifacts, ancient armor, and furniture, which were donated to the Municipality of Abano forty years ago by Roberto Bassi Rathgeb.
The beautifully restored villa hosts important events and exhibitions. It consists of several rooms, such as the Room of Cephalus and Procris, the Hunting Room, the Room of Mercury and Argus, the Room of Apollo and Daphne, and the Room of Genesis, as well as an oratory and a loggia.
The decoration of the loggia reflects the intended function of the space, which, as Palladio recalls, was typically used for receiving guests and was suitable for walking and dining. The faux architecture enhances the motif of the arches and simulates a second loggia in strong perspective. From this perspective, servants and musicians appear to welcome guests with an ideal concert, while other allegorical scenes and figures invite one to reject the violence of war and embrace pursuits like the study of the sciences and the arts.
The large central hall features frescoes that have unfortunately been compromised by the picking done during the application of stucco in the second half of the 18th century, which has since been removed.
The panels on the overdoors depicted, according to an 18th-century source, the four parts of the day: to this day, Aurora is seen on a chariot drawn by roosters and scattering flowers, while the Sun is shown on a chariot drawn by four horses.
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