SThey meet in a place suspended in time, marked by the scars of war, but capable of preserving a poignant beauty. Bold and visionary, custodians of knowledge and experimenters, indomitable and erudite, therefore long forgotten. They are the 38 alchemists summoned to the Hall of Caryatids of the Royal Palace by such a symbolic and powerful art that brings them back to life, snatching them from oblivion. The exhibition Kiefer. The Alchemists, open from 7 February 2026 and part of the cultural program of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games, it will turn on the lights in the Lombard capital on the new work of one of the greatest contemporary artists, Anselm Kiefer, guiding visitors into a world of female intelligences persecuted and hidden, yet decisive for the birth of modern scientific thought.
The exhibition Kiefer. The Alchemistsin Milan, and the revenge of the witches
They are figures mostly unknown to the general public: forerunners ofalchemya discipline long relegated to the occult and suspicion, but which, as Lawrence M. Principe, Drew Professor of Humanities at Johns Hopkins University, recalls in the exhibition catalog (Marsilio Arte), he provided concepts and procedures underlying modern chemistry. Alchemy was a privileged way to investigate the natural world and the possibilities of human ingenuity.
The proto-scientists, from Caterina Sforza to Alethea Talbot Howard
In the large canvases created by Anselm Kiefer, he stands out among desolate landscapes burned by the fire of knowledge Caterina Sforzaone of the great protagonists of the political and military scene between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, who stood up to Cesare Borgia’s army and was the author of the Experiments, collection of over 400 recipes on cosmetics and pharmacopoeia, distillations, tinctures and alchemy operations.
“Marie de Bachimont” by Anselm Kiefer, on display from 7 February in Milan.
Alongside her, protoscientists like Alethea Talbot Howard, who in 1655 published one of the first technical-scientific manuals written by a woman in England. Sabine Stuart de Chevalier, rare female voice of Enlightenment alchemy with her mantra “the light of chemistry is the wisdom that must shine in the darkness”. Marie Meurdrac, committed to legitimizing the female presence in science.
And again: Camilla Erculiani, apothecary from Padua and expert in meteorology, and Margaret Cavendish, one of the very few philosophers of the seventeenth century, author of works that intertwine metaphysics, poetry and science.
Between meteorology, pharmacopoeia, cosmetics
«They intuited and experimented with remedies and medicines from a pharmacopoeia and cosmetics at the first steps of the modern age» explains the curator of the exhibition Gabriella Belli «studying the possibilities of the new sciences like men. With their thinking and practice they have opened new paths in botany, chemistry, physics, medicine and mathematics. While many men chased the myth of the philosopher’s stone capable of turning metals into gold, they also worked to save lives, heal and promote the well-being of other women and their communities».
The suspicion of the spell
Kiefer, who built much of his iconography by paying homage to women, gives the alchemists faces and bodies, revealing them to the public through creations, specifically conceived for the room that welcomes them, in which alchemy and art merge. Her painting, subjected to complex processes, transmutes and transforms, depicting the charisma, tragedies, pain and talent of women outside the box, some forced to hide their identity, others persecuted or condemned to the stake as witches.
Witches and alchemists: the common denominator is “magic”
«We must distinguish two very different figures» explains Marina Montesano, professor of Medieval History at the University of Messina and author of Magical Ars. A story in 20 objects (Carocci). «Alchemists were often cultured women, belonging to the upper echelons of society, while those accused of witchcraft generally came from humble backgrounds, although there were exceptions. The lowest common denominator is the manipulation of the elements, the practice of a magic that is “ars”, that is, the ability to do, create, transform, elaborate.”
“The witches” by Joseph Apoux, from the Stregherie exhibition underway in Padua.
Free, ergo dangerous: the exhibition Witchcraftin Padua
The exhibition tells the story of the evolution of the figure of the witch Witchcraft. Iconography, rites and symbols of the heretics of knowledgeset up at the Ex Mattatoio in Padua until 1 February 2026. Nine rooms, like initiatory portals, investigate the witch beyond folklore and the Inquisition as an image and archetype over the centuries, an emblem of forgotten knowledge, resistance and rebirth. From the diviners of antiquity to the modern feminist iconthe witch is freed from prejudices and clichés on a journey through books, documents, photographs, objects, works of art by artists such as Goya, Dürer or Delacroix and creations created specifically for the exhibition by the contemporary artist Elisa Seitzinger.
«For me, witch means freedom, and this is exactly what scared me the most» says Chiara Spinnato, creator of the exhibition and co-founder of Vertigo Syndrome which produced the exhibition. «Among the most persecuted women during the witch huntsbetween the 14th and 17th centuries, there were midwivesalso accused for their ability to perform abortions. Female oppression, yesterday as today, has always passed through control over women’s bodies, sexuality and the right to choose.”
The itinerary also includes an immersive room dedicated to a real witchcraft trial that took place in 1539, an experience that reflects the brutality of the torture and the absurdity of the accusations.
The fascination of the witch in the nineteenth century
It is only in nineteenth-century positivism that the witch re-emerges, no longer as a threat but as a fascinating and little-researched figure. «A surprising return in which the witch is a medium, reader of dreams, evocator» writes the curator Andrea Pellegrino, journalist, art critic and criminologist, in the exhibition catalog (Moebius). «In bourgeois and bohemian living rooms, scientists and artists listen to her, question her, ask her to challenge the boundaries between rational and irrational».
Witches in the pop imagination, from fashion to cinema and TV
Pop culture, fashion from Vivienne Westwood to Dior, cinema and TV have continued to nourish the imagination of the witch. In cinemas today Elphaba and Glinda from the saga triumph Wickedwhich invite us to question the boundary between evil and good.
Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba and Ariana Grande is Glinda in Wicked.
«A witch is many things and always has been, in almost all human cultures» states Francesca Matteoni, poet and writer, author of The witch’s familiar. Blood and witchcraft in the modern era (Effequ). «There is the female stereotype of the creature that causes evil and the one that is almost more fairy than human, who knows the destinies and cycles of existence. Then there is the political aspect: nIt’s no coincidence that the feminist movement has reclaimed the word witchwearing the stigma of those who are marginalized, to reclaim, starting from the bodies, participation and belonging. Precisely those who define themselves as witches today are at the forefront of the most dramatic struggles, just think of Witches for Palestinea reality committed to supporting and giving help to the Palestinian people. The witch today is also the one or the one who practices witchcraft understood as new form of spirituality, religion and lifestyle».
From Iris van Herpen’s Haute Couture 2025 collection. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Witches and alchemists of today
Today, all women who choose to be themselves, who raise their heads, who defend their own rights and those of others are witches. And the alchemists? Mary Shelley was an alchemist of words when she gave birth Frankensteinpublished anonymously for the first time in 1818, the embodiment of the utopia of eternal life, a book more relevant than ever thanks to Guillermo del Toro’s film.
“La joie de patinage”, by Leonora Carrington, 1941.
The scientists who investigate the mysteries of the cosmos and develop innovative therapies have the spirit of ancient alchemists; the chefs who transform the material; all the creatives, the fashion designers like Iris Van Herpeneternally searching for experimental fabrics; and the artists who feel they are taking up the legacy of the surrealist Leonora Carrington.
«His production permeated by alchemy reminds us that it is always possible to create, do, transform» underlines Giulia Ingarao, curator of Carrington. AZ (Electa), an encyclopedia to orient yourself within a labyrinthine and very dense creative universe. «Carrington’s is an invitation to designing a world without hierarchies, through female creativity and listening to differencesfollowing a path that goes from matter to a spirituality in balance with nature and the cosmos. Regenerating and today more necessary than ever.”