- Art & Culture
Open museums in Lombardy: an ode to female talent
As Lombardy enters the yellow zone, many museums, foundations and exhibition spaces are once again opening up to the public.
Finally, we can once again admire paintings, sculptures, and other works of art, enjoying the unique feeling of beholding a masterpiece in person.
In the exhibitions that have just reopened in Lombardy, we can trace a shared element: a pink thread, which makes women the protagonists of expositions, monographic exhibitions, and events. Here are the current and upcoming exhibitions taking place in Lombardy that simply can’t be missed!
Remember that museums and all artistic spaces are open to the public from Monday to Friday and closed at the weekend. Booking online (which is required in some cases) is the best way to avoid queues and disappointment.
Female talents in Milan’s reopened museums
Artemisia Gentileschi, Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Elisabetta Sirani, Fede Galizia, Giovanna Garzoni: these are just some of the artistic protagonists of the exhibition entitled ‘Le Signore dell’Arte. Storie di donne tra ‘500 e ‘600’ (‘The Ladies of Art: Women’s Stories between 1500 and 1600’), which is being held in Palazzo Reale, Milan, from 2 March until June as part of the City of Milan's ‘Female Talents’ programme. An all-female story of fertile and liberal creativity, of unprecedented compositional skills, and talent waiting to be uncovered and admired.
Let’s remain in Milan but travel to a different era with a visit to the Fabbrica del Vapore and its exhibition ‘Frida Khalo. Il caos dentro’ (‘Frida Kahlo. The Chaos Within’), which is dedicated to the great and inimitable interpreter of Mexican art in the 1900s, and is open until April. An interactive multimedia experience reconstructs the painter’s home, giving visitors a 360 degree immersion into the magical world of the woman and the artist.
Mexico is also evoked in the upcoming exhibition ‘Donne, Messico e libertà’ (‘Women, Mexico and Freedom’), which will be hosted by the Mudec in Milan and is dedicated to Tina Modotti, the Italian photographer, actress, and activist who died in 1942 in Mexico City at the age of just 46. Prints, letters, and videos bear witness to her creativity, free spirit, and social and political engagement.
Open until June, ‘Carla Accardi. Contesti’ (‘Carla Accardi. Contexts’) is the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the painter from Trapani who disappeared 6 years ago. Works of art, paintings, installations, and models document the dynamic creations of the first Italian abstract artist of international renown.
Winged Victory flies over Brescia once again
Brescia’s Civic Museums will be resuming their activities by offering visitors free admission across all of its locations for the entire month of February, subject to booking. The main protagonist of the reopening is the ‘Vittoria Alata’ (‘Winged Victory’): following its restoration, this extraordinary Roman statue will be exhibited in the setting designed at the Capitolium by Navarro Baldeweg, to whom the exhibition ‘Juan Navarro Baldeweg. Architettura, pittura, scultura’ (‘Juan Navarro Baldeweg. Architecture, Painting, Sculpture’) is dedicated.
Arriving in Bergamo: Regina, Queen of Sculpture
The opening of Gamec’s 2021 Museum Year in Bergamo is also dedicated to women. From April, the retrospective ‘Regina. Della scultura’ (‘Regina, Queen of Sculpture’) will host a nuclear collection of works by the 20th-century sculptor from Lombardy, Regina Cassolo Bracchi, which were acquired by the Pompidou Centre in Paris. At the same time, an immersive installation by contemporary Latvian sculptor Daiga Grantina will be hosted by the museum’s Spazio Zero.
Mantua: Palazzo Te celebrates Venus
Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, inaugurates the 2021 season of the Civic Museums of Palazzo Te and San Sebastiano, in Mantua. With this, the Fondazione Palazzo Te will complete its cycle dedicated to the world of women, which began in 2018. Departing from Aby Warburg’s work on mythology, the programme ‘Venere Divina. Armonia sulla terra’ (‘Divine Venus: Harmony on Earth’) includes the exhibition of a unique masterpiece, a major autumn exhibition, as well as conferences and events. And with the Supercard Cultura 2021, Mantuans can enjoy free entry to the museums on the circuit for just €1 a month.
Other unmissable exhibitions: from Raphael and Tiepolo to Enzo Mari
Finally, three exhibitions that mustn’t be missed in person. The first is ‘Raffaello. L’invenzione del divino pittore’ (‘Raphael. The Invention of the Divine Painter’), which is being held at the Museum of Santa Giulia in Brescia until 19 February and features prints in the style of Raphael from the early 1500s to the mid-1800s. The exhibition ‘Tiepolo. Venezia, Milano, l’Europa’ (‘Tiepolo. Venice, Milan, Europe’), hosted by the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan’s Piazza Scala, is being extended until 2 May. Lastly, visitors to the Triennale di Milano can see ‘Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli’, a show dedicated to the master of design, every Thursday and Friday until 21:30, with the option of a guided tour.
