A journey through the works of one of the most popular artists of twentieth-century Italy.
At Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, visitors can explore, until July 12, a major retrospective dedicated to Mario Schifano, one of the most significant and popular figures in Italian art of the second half of the twentieth century.
The exhibition, curated by Daniela Lancioni, brings together more than 100 works from Italian and international public and private collections, arranged in chronological order in the museum’s large ground-floor rotunda and the seven adjoining rooms.
A journey through the artist’s imagination, from the informal, richly textured works of the 1950s to the first monochromes of the following decade, including iconic paintings that revisit major movements in art history that came before him, as in the case of the Futurists.
The 1980s saw works inspired by the language of television and cinema take center stage in his practice, while the 1990s were devoted to themes of social emergency.
Mario Schifano dared and experimented: the exhibition highlights his innovations, underscoring the complexity of his work and its strong connection to the contemporary world, and beyond. His pictorial research, often ahead of its time, always remained aware of the importance of the artistic legacy of the past. His style reveals an exuberant and ongoing regeneration of painting through the use of highly diverse techniques, materials and processes.
Il nòcciolo tenero e sensibilissimo del suo animo è la passione per la pittura.
Cesare Vivaldi, critic and poet, on Mario Schifano in 1963.
Collezione Galassi Ferrari, Foto Giorgio Benni – © MARIO SCHIFANO, by SIAE © Archivio Mario Schifano
After the retrospective exhibitions dedicated to Cesare Tacchi, Jim Dine, Don McCullin, Boris Mikhailov and Carla Accardi, Palazzo delle Esposizioni continues its exhibition program aimed at highlighting figures and movements that have significantly shaped Italian visual culture since the mid-twentieth century, with particular attention to the city of Rome.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a rich program of educational and entertainment activities. Of particular interest is the free-admission film series Al cinema di Schifano, featuring screenings of films made by the artist in the museum’s cinema hall. Throughout the exhibition route, visitors will also be able to watch the short films Schifano created over the course of his career.
