Poikile - a project for the rebirth of classical art

No humanism can truly become a renaissance unless it promotes and nurtures a renewal of the arts: painting, sculpture, architecture and urban planning; and, we might add today, photography, film, and the graphic arts brought to life using digital techniques. Restoring to the humanities the prestige that has been taken away from them, and making a vast non-specialist public understand how indispensable humanism is to a life that preserves and emphasises the dignitas hominis, cannot be achieved without those arts that appeal to the sense of sight, the first and most involving of the senses by which we know the world. Therefore, not only is it true that, as Dostoyevsky wrote in an often abused phrase, "beauty will save the world", but perhaps it is even more important to reflect on Schiller's thought that art and beauty are "the eastern gate" through which man can "penetrate into the realm of knowledge". Bringing art as a whole back to man, to his dimension, and to a harmonious vision of the world will be the task of the Center for Visual Arts of the Vivarium novum Academy, with the belief that recognising the links of harmony, proportion and balance between the parts of a work of art also enables us to understand the concept of 'dare unicuique suum', which is the basis of all morality and all law. Young people will be led by expert teachers to the creation of art that tends towards the 'sublime', "whose mere possibility of being thought of demonstrates the presence of a faculty of our soul that transcends all sensible measures".

Open call for summer art course - 2022

The Vivarium Novum Academy is pleased to announce an open call for its month-long, intensive art course, to be held from 25 July till 31 August, 2022.

Through this course we intend to gather a group of budding artists in a harmonious environment, devoted to profound study of classical art in its tradition, meaning and renewal. The course will include both drawing and painting from life and composing multi-figured pictures. This year the subject for the composition is Plato, his life and Platonic myths. For this occasion several profound theoretical lectures on these subjects will be delivered.

  • Art teacher: Leonid Ilyukhin (whose portfolio can be found here).
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Dates: 25 July - 31 August, 2022
  • Location: Villa Falconieri, Frascati, Italy
  • Language: English
  • You can find the curriculum attached here. It might be slightly changed, depending on the skills of the applicants.

How to apply

Applicants must send an email to poikile@vivariumnovum.net by the 15th of June, along with the following documents:

  1. motivation letter
  2. portfolio
  3. copy of passport
  4. recent photo of the candidate

Upon the submission of their application, the candidates will go through a selection process.

The selected students will be awarded full-tuition scholarships along with room and board, excluding art materials and travelling costs.

The maximum number of participants is limited to 10.

Fundamental rules

Since the course does not only intend to teach the technical aspects of painting, but also to create an environment propitious and convenient to the spirit of our project, the participants must consent and abide by the following rules:

  1. Alcoholic beverages, drugs of any kind, cigarettes and smoking in general are not allowed.
  2. Obscene and strong language is not allowed, neither in speaking, in films, in writing nor in any other context.
  3. Only classical music is played and listened to.
  4. We ask all participants staying with us not to dress or otherwise conduct themselves in unconventional manners.
  5. There are certain regular hours which must be observed (breakfast, lunch, dinner and classes).
  6. A comprehensive list of the Academy’s regulations can be found here.