The work of Giuseppe Penone will be the subject of the first exhibition of contemporary art at the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, Fendi’s headquarters.

The exhibition, titled Matrice will include some of Penone’s older works such as Soffio di Foglie, a huge pile of leaves on which the artist has left an imprint of his body, Abete, Ripetere II Bosco, and Spine d’Acacia, made entirely of thorns and which resembles the lines of the artist’s mouth. There will also be two new pieces, including a 30m-long horizontal sculpture, formed from a tree that has been excavated and the interior filled with a bronze mold, and which will occupy an entire wing of the building. The outside space will feature a momentous sculpture of two bronze and marble trees.