Image creditSophie Calle, Autobiografie, Infarto silenzioso, 2017. © Sophie Calle & Perrotin

At a glance

Calle converts love, surveillance, separation and grief into coolly structured games whose emotional impact arrives slowly through a mix of photography and prose.

Meet the artist

Sophie Calle

Why go

This major survey in Rome spans four decades of work, bringing together several strands of an unusually coherent practice that bridges the gap between private life and investigative art.

You'll see

Photographic narratives · Written testimony · Rituals of absence · Investigative projects · Moving image

Pace of visit

This is a reading-intensive show where the written word is a primary medium, requiring a patient pace to fully absorb the narratives.

Artlovers Tip

Avoid rushing the wall texts; language is a primary medium here rather than supporting explanation, so treat the galleries as a space for reading as much as looking.

Inside the exhibition

Matrimoni, Rotture e Funerali inclusi presents a major survey of Sophie Calle's career at MAXXI in Rome, Italy. The French conceptual artist transforms intimate experiences of intimacy and loss into rigorous, almost clinical artistic exercises involving photography and prose.

Spanning over forty years, the selection highlights Calle's investigative methods and her focus on the intersection of public and private life. Visitors encounter works that blend written testimony with photographic evidence, ranging from voyeuristic surveillance projects to formal explorations of grief and absence through video and installation.

This Rome survey stands out for demonstrating the underlying logic and consistency across Calle’s multi-decade practice. By presenting these diverse strands together, the exhibition reveals how she uses strict rules and rituals to navigate and document the complexities of human relationships and personal memory.

Worth travelling for?

A compelling and intellectually dense survey for visitors interested in how contemporary photography and literature can document the most private aspects of the human experience.

Exhibition
Plan a visit

Matrimoni, Rotture e Funerali inclusi — Sophie Calle

Admission

€14–€15 (venue admission) — Free: first Sunday of every monthPrices checked October 2026
Contemporary Art
Photography

Artlovers relevance

+2 hours

Plan your visit

MAXXI National Museum

Rome, Italy

4.5· 12,795 reviews

Hours & rating from Google

Rome, Italy

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