Giuseppe Penone with one of his artworks. Picture by Khalid El Sawi / The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Qatar Museums (QM) on Monday opened "Giuseppe Penone: The Inner Flow of Life", a major exhibition exploring the Italian artist’s longstanding interest in the synergies between artistic and natural processes, at the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ).
Before Penone, the artist, there was the little boy from a village in the mountains who “studied the way the fish move and the way the fish think.” The Turin-born artist’s work seems to have always been a natural extension of this childhood inquisitiveness.
His materials range from minerals and leaves to water and air, and, much like a painter uses hand movements to apply paint to a canvas, Penone uses natural processes such as the flow of water, the passage of air, the growth of vines, and the scent of leaves, to express his ideas.
Speaking to The Peninsula, Penone said he was most fascinated with the idea of the perception of time being different for us human beings than for other living entities; like trees for example.
For one of his first works, he cast a metallic arm in iron, placed it on a tree, and over time, the imprint of the hand became a fixture of the tree.
He said the guiding idea behind this work was that he could touch the tree and that the tree could “remember the touch.” “There is a kind of equity between my person and the being of the tree,” he said.
“So, for me, the sculpture is a way for me to understand the reality that surround me.”
With regard to the perception of public art, and whether he wants people to see his installations as part of the place itself rather than as artworks, Penone explained that placing art in an urban context or natural landscape setting was not simply about “marking the space with an idea” or ensuring that the work is recognised as art.
Penone believes that when people encounter art, they first process it through their own self-perception and immediate surroundings before perhaps “recognizing it as a sculpture.” For Penone, the ultimate goal is for viewers to approach the art in a way that makes the experience their own.
The Doha 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 has installed a new public sculpture by the artist, Idee di Pietra, at the Old Doha Port.
“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.
