Two of Fort Worth’s most notable museums reel in rare exhibits this fall. The Kimbell is one of only two American venues to host fifty-eight masterpieces from the historic Torlonia collection in Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection. And, The Modern is the only stop in the county where you can catch Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting. Here’s a peek at what local art lovers have in store.
The Kimbell Art Museum will present Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection beginning on September 14 and running through January 25, 2026. “This exhibition brings to North America for the first time a selection of fifty-eight rarely seen masterpieces from the world’s most important private collection of Roman sculpture,” according to a release.
“The opportunity to bring large-scale works of ancient Roman sculpture to the American public is extremely rare, and we at the Kimbell are grateful to Fondazione Torlonia for creating this once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Eric Lee, director of the Kimbell Art Museum. “This is the first exhibition of ancient Roman sculpture in the Kimbell’s fifty-three-year history and is all the more exciting because the legendary Torlonia Collection has been largely unseen for the last seventy years.”
Naturalism and Expert Artistry Capture A Vivid Depiction of Ancient Rome
Get ready to be transported to Italy by these masterworks and ancient marbles. Myth and Marble comes to North America after a recent exhibition of the Torlonia Collection drew unprecedented audiences at the Louvre in Paris.
The works on view date from the late fifth century BC and the early fourth century AD, “including large-scale figures of gods, goddesses, and mythic heroes, vivid portraits of emperors and their families, and magnificent funerary monuments.”
“The Statue of a Goddess, known as the Hestia Giustiniani, one of the most important works in the collection, is also one of the very few Roman versions of the classical Greek “severe” style in existence and is the largest and most intact sculpture of its type,” according to The Kimbell.
Jenny Saville Dives Deep Into Human Anatomy at The Modern
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth has something special arriving this October. The new exhibit Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting, will only be on view at one museum in America ― ours.
Saville is “one of the world’s foremost contemporary painters,” according to a release. This exhibition, organized by the National Portrait Gallery, London, will showcase 50 works by the artist, from the 1990s to today.
“We are honored that the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth will be the exclusive U.S. venue for Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting, giving our community and visitors to Fort Worth a remarkable opportunity to experience and learn from the breadth of this celebrated artist’s work,” says Halona Norton-Westbrook, The Modern’s new Director.
A Thoroughly Modern Expression By A Renowned Artist
“While inspired by great artists, like Michelangelo and Rembrandt, and influenced by modern masters like Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, Saville is also intrigued by the work of abstract artists, including Willem de Kooning and Cy Twombly,” the Modern goes on.
Artworks in the exhibition will range “from monumental oil paintings to smaller-scale charcoal drawings.” Studies of faces and bodies, as well as portraits, “fall between the figurative and the abstract.”
This exhibition contains mature subjects and nudity.
After a busy summer are already hankering for September and October, when cooler temperatures arrive in North Texas, but these two rare art exhibits give local art lovers even more to look forward to.