Saint Valentine

The work depicts a modest and unusual Valentino Garavani dressed as Saint Valentine, where the artist expresses his sophisticated humor by playing on the homonymity of the famous designer and the patron saint of lovers. The iconography is decidedly ecclesiastical, yet ironically interpreted with markedly profane elements, recalling the world of fashion, where sacred love meets the more material. Subtle and reverent sarcasm characterizes the entire work, from the abundance of red roses overflowing from the gate of the marble niche to the numerous votive offerings and personal objects left by devotees as a sign of thanks or requests for grace for a love begun, restored, or broken. The reliquary containing more profane objects, such as tailoring tools and precious items, familiar to the famous couturier, is also humorous.