The Paul Thorel Foundation is an art institution rooted in the Mediterranean, headquartered in Naples, with two satellite venues on the islands of Panarea and Hydra. The Foundation is located in the former studio of Italian-French artist Paul Thorel (1956–2020), a pioneer of the electronic image and digital photography. Established by the artist to preserve and promote his work and his collection of Italian and international contemporary art, since 2022 the Foundation is a hybrid space for exhibition, production, and experimentation, always open to the public. Both archive and laboratory, it is conceived as a hospitable environment where artistic practice and research coexist without hierarchy. Its activities include work on the artist’s catalogue raisonné and a prize dedicated to digital arts, all with a program that brings together residencies, commissions, exhibitions, and public conversations among artists, critics, and visitors.
The Paul Thorel Prize is a platform dedicated to the Italian and international art scene, with a focus on digital arts and the contemporary image as both language and aesthetic horizon. Each year, the Paul Thorel Foundation, together with a committee of experts, curators, and museum directors, selects twelve artists with new projects to be developed during a residency designed to reactivate Paul Thorel’s spaces and working tools in Naples, where the artist relocated his studio in 1994. A jury then selects three winners, whose commissioned works are produced and presented by the Foundation in partnership with a museum institution. These partners have included Gallerie d’Italia – Naples (2024), Museo Madre – Fondazione Donnaregina for contemporary arts (2025), and Museo MACRO in Rome (2026). The Foundation also publishes an artist’s book for each winner in collaboration with NERO Editions.
