Helmut Newton
"Intrecci"

Exhibition: 23 October 2025 – 1 March 2026

The exhibition showcases over 100 photographs by the artist, including rare and previously unseen works from Newton’s iconic collaborations with leading international brands.

From 23 October 2025 to 1 March 2026, the Filatoio di Caraglio – one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious silk mills – will host Helmut Newton: Intrecci, a major exhibition featuring more than 100 photographs, including several previously unseen works. The show highlights Newton’s visionary collaborations with some of the world’s most iconic brands, among them Yves Saint Laurent, Wolford, Ca’ del Bosco, Blumarine, Absolut Vodka and Lavazza.

Organized by Fondazione Artea and curated by Matthias Harder, Director of the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, the exhibition offers a compelling journey through the bold, visionary and provocative imagery of one of the most influential fashion photographers of the 20th century, Helmut Newton. His unmistakable style — shaped by close relationships with models such as Monica Bellucci, Kate Moss, Carla Bruni and Eva Herzigová, and trusted by top designers and magazines — revolutionized fashion photography, transforming it into a powerful and theatrical visual language.

The title Intrecci reflects both the exhibition’s narrative thread and its setting. Housed in a historic silk factory built to weave fine fabrics, the venue becomes part of Newton’s conceptual tapestry. Threads of biography, professional partnerships and narrative tension ran through his entire career: from his early work for the German textile company Nino-Moden in the 1960s, to major international collaborations that turned fashion into a space for radical creative experimentation.

The exhibition opens with Newton’s most iconic images — including portraits of Catherine Deneuve, Andy Warhol and Paloma Picasso — alongside his legendary first nude of Charlotte Rampling, taken at Hôtel Nord-Pinus in Arles in 1973. These photographs blend elegance and seduction, offering a critical lens on shifting female identities in postwar Western society.

The journey continues through Newton’s collaborations with the fashion world: from his decades-long partnership with Yves Saint Laurent, launched in 1969 in Paris, to the striking Versace series shot in Monte Carlo in 1985, where models are portrayed almost exclusively from behind.

Another section focuses on his creative relationship with Anna Molinari, who gave him extraordinary freedom to interpret her Blumarine collections. Hotel Balmoral in Monte Carlo, the rocky coast of Monaco, Antibes’ exotic gardens and the villas of Nice became cinematic stages where models like Monica Bellucci, Carla Bruni, Nadja Auermann and Carré Otis moved like actresses performing his scripts. The exhibition also explores Newton’s pioneering work in product advertising — a field that allowed him unmatched creative freedom. From commissions for Mario Valentino and Neiman Marcus to Asprey, Paul Picot, Ca’ del Bosco and Lavazza, these images reveal his talent for what he called mood photography: creating atmosphere and emotion while keeping the product subtly in the background.

Some of his most emblematic advertising shots, including campaigns for Laura Biagiotti and Yves Saint Laurent perfumes in the 1990s and a series for Italian handbag brand Redwall, are featured here.

Conceived specifically for the Filatoio di Caraglio, the exhibition is produced in collaboration with the Helmut Newton Foundation and the Municipality of Caraglio, with support from Fondazione CRT, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione CRC, and in partnership with Museo Lavazza and Confindustria Cuneo, under the patronage of the Province of Cuneo. It offers a rare opportunity to experience Newton’s groundbreaking photographic series in one place.

In parallel, La Castiglia in Saluzzo (Piedmont, Italy) will present Ferdinando Scianna. La moda, la vita, a tribute to another great master of 20th-century photography. Designed to engage in dialogue, these two exhibitions reveal complementary visions of fashion: Newton’s as a provocation of the imagination, Scianna’s as a reflection of real life.

A rich Public Programme curated by Monica Poggi and Fondazione Artea will accompany both exhibitions, with talks and encounters featuring leading voices in photography, fashion and visual culture. These events will not only contextualize the work of the two masters but also invite broader reflections on the intersections between photography, production, collecting and contemporary society.