Lindsey McIntosh

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, paints the color on a wooden palette of the “Ponte Vechio” bridge in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

Anything can be considered art, an outfit, a song, and just some scribbling can be considered art. Famous art is prevalent all throughout Florence but there is so much meaning to each of those pieces of art that can easily be overlooked.

Tourists take their picture of the piece of art and then move on is what I noticed. Sometimes I do that myself during my time there, but having a lot of time in the churches and the museums help me understand the meaning of these pieces of art and why they are so significant.

A painting by Tracey Emin who locked herself in a room for three weeks to do art alone at Emin’s “Sex and Solitude” exhibit in Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy on Thursday, May 22, 2025.

“Sex and Solitude” is a contemporary art exhibit in Florence that a British artist, Tracey Emin, created. Emin was sexually abused. She locked herself in a room for three and a half weeks, naked, after she gave birth. Some of those paintings she did in the room are on display in the “Sex and Solitude” exhibit in the Palazzo Strozzi. It is hard to tell at first what some of the art meant, but after looking at the pieces, I started to see that the artist was trying to convey the feeling of loneliness despite not physically being alone during sex.

A representation of the room Tracey Emin locked herself in while painting for three weeks naked from Emin’s “Sex and Solitude” exhibit in Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy on Thursday, May 22, 2025.

“There was blood” art piece by Tracey Emin in her “Sex and Solitude” exhibit in Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy on Thursday, May 22, 2025.

Uffizi Gallery

Art was everywhere in the Uffizi gallery. There were not only art displays of paintings and sculptures, but also on the ceilings and in the design of the building. The gallery includes over 177,000 drawings, 1,800 paintings, and 300 sculptures, Florence Tickets stated. Most of the Renaissance art was Biblical depictions.

The Niobe Room in Uffizi that features sculptures from the 1st or 2nd century AD in a vineyard founded during the 16th century in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

One Biblical depiction that I had never seen before was of Jesus’s mother, Mary, holding him after he is dead from the cross. At his head is John the Baptist with a tear going down his face, looking off, almost pleading with the viewer of the painting for help. Mary Magdalene was praying at his feet. The painting is called Pietà by Pietro Perugino. Pietà is different than other paintings because those paintings show the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus, whereas this shows Jesus dead as a young man in Mary’s arms.

“Pieta” by Pietro Perugino from the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

Jesus’s holes on his hands and thrash on his side from the cross and whipping he endured depicted on “Pieta” by Pietro Perugino from the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

John the Baptist’s tears in the “Pieta” by Pietro Perugino from the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

I did not realize that Leonardo da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi was unfinished because to me it seemed finished. Da Vinci uses movement in his piece to guide the viewer to the next scene, and some of the people were more toned and detailed than others in the drawing.

“Adoration of the Magi” by Leonardo da Vinci in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

The gallery not only shows Biblical depictions from the Renaissance, but also pagan depictions like the Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli did both pagan and Christian art due to the support for classical works alongside the Christian faith during the Renaissance.

“The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli from the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

Artists love to come to Italy for this reason, to see other art pieces, but I ran into a painter after I did a sunrise walk one morning. A California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, painted the Ponte Vecchio bridge on a wood panel. Gomez started by sketching with her paintbrush the bridge and the water. She mixed the colors to add the colors of the bridge and the sunlight being cast on the bridge after her sketch. Gomez did not mind me being there as I took some photos of her making her art.

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, paints the “Ponte Vechio” bridge in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, sketches the “Ponte Vechio” bridge before adding the color in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, paints the color on a wooden palette of the “Ponte Vechio” bridge in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, mixes her colors on her easel while painting the “Ponte Vechio” bridge in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

"The challenge for an artist is chasing the sun."

- Georgesse Gomez

“Pieta” by Pietro Perugino from the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

Jesus’s holes on his hands and thrash on his side from the cross and whipping he endured depicted on “Pieta” by Pietro Perugino from the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

John the Baptist’s tears in the “Pieta” by Pietro Perugino from the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence, Italy on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, paints the “Ponte Vechio” bridge in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, sketches the “Ponte Vechio” bridge before adding the color in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, paints the color on a wooden palette of the “Ponte Vechio” bridge in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

California Hartland college professor, Georgesse Gomez, mixes her colors on her easel while painting the “Ponte Vechio” bridge in Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

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