Oceans
Villa Bardini hosts the first solo exhibition in Italy of photographer David Doubilet, a pioneer of underwater exploration and a leading figure in underwater photography. The exhibition brings National Geographic to Florence for the first time.
More than 80 photographs portray marine ecosystems and the boundless beauty of life in the ocean depths, as well as the fragility of underwater ecosystems under severe pressure due to climate change and human activity, inviting us to care for the planet.
David Doubilet, a world-famous underwater photographer, for over half a century has explored the seas across the globe, documenting their extraordinary beauty, reaching some of the most pristine places on Earth, and creating images that have made him one of the most celebrated nature photographers in the world.
Author of more than 70 stories for National Geographic, he has won numerous prestigious photography awards and he is also the inventor of the over/under technique, which allows photographers to capture simultaneously what happens beneath and above the water’s surface. Together with his wife Jennifer Hayes, a marine biologist and underwater photographer in her own right, David Doubilet has become an ambassador for the oceans and for the crucial role their health plays in our well-being.
Eleven exhibition rooms showcase his most iconic images taken in seas around the world — from the Caribbean to the Philippines, from Indonesia to Australia, and as far as Antarctica.
Inspired by over/under technique, of which Doubilet is the most celebrated exponent, the exhibition unfolds entirely through a play of opposites: so you can visit rooms dedicated to warm/cold, close/far, scary/cute, bright/dark, threat/care, and many/few in an exciting alternation of environments and situations. The images on display teach us to understand and love the world that lives beneath the water's surface.
Among Doubilet’s most striking photographs on display are: an aerial view of one of the most spectacular stretches of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, overflown by a small DeHavilland Beaver aircraft carrying divers; an image of a young green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) swimming toward the open ocean through the crystal-clear waters of Nengo Nengo Lagoon, a small atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia; the clownish grin of a rainbow parrotfish (Scarus frenatus) off the coast of Queensland, Australia; corals forming a masterpiece of abstract art in the Tubbataha Reef National Park.
More than 80 photographs portray marine ecosystems and the boundless beauty of life in the ocean depths, as well as the fragility of underwater ecosystems under severe pressure due to climate change and human activity, inviting us to care for the planet.
David Doubilet, a world-famous underwater photographer, for over half a century has explored the seas across the globe, documenting their extraordinary beauty, reaching some of the most pristine places on Earth, and creating images that have made him one of the most celebrated nature photographers in the world.
Author of more than 70 stories for National Geographic, he has won numerous prestigious photography awards and he is also the inventor of the over/under technique, which allows photographers to capture simultaneously what happens beneath and above the water’s surface. Together with his wife Jennifer Hayes, a marine biologist and underwater photographer in her own right, David Doubilet has become an ambassador for the oceans and for the crucial role their health plays in our well-being.
Eleven exhibition rooms showcase his most iconic images taken in seas around the world — from the Caribbean to the Philippines, from Indonesia to Australia, and as far as Antarctica.
Inspired by over/under technique, of which Doubilet is the most celebrated exponent, the exhibition unfolds entirely through a play of opposites: so you can visit rooms dedicated to warm/cold, close/far, scary/cute, bright/dark, threat/care, and many/few in an exciting alternation of environments and situations. The images on display teach us to understand and love the world that lives beneath the water's surface.
Among Doubilet’s most striking photographs on display are: an aerial view of one of the most spectacular stretches of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, overflown by a small DeHavilland Beaver aircraft carrying divers; an image of a young green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) swimming toward the open ocean through the crystal-clear waters of Nengo Nengo Lagoon, a small atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia; the clownish grin of a rainbow parrotfish (Scarus frenatus) off the coast of Queensland, Australia; corals forming a masterpiece of abstract art in the Tubbataha Reef National Park.
Access notes:
The villa will be closed from July 21 to September 30, 2025
Garden: closed first and last Monday of the month; 25th December
Direct access from the ticket office and entry into the first available visit slot.
Photo gallery
