Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italian, 1922–1975), one of 20th-century Europe’s leading intellectuals, known for his prolific work as a poet, writer, and film director as well as for his criticisms of government corruption, materialism, consumerism, and sociopolitical repression, will be the focus of the Neuberger Museum of Art’s two-part exhibition Pier Paolo Pasolini: Subversive Prophet, on view from February 12–May 31, 2020.

A blunt and controversial figure, Pasolini’s unrelenting critiques of materialist values, the bourgeoisie and its institutions, and the destruction of Italy’s culture and traditions, were carried and circulated by media outlets, thereby earning him an international reputation as a leading public intellectual. He championed the disinherited and viewed the intellectual as a savior of society.