The Santa Giulia museum in Brescia is the museum that keeps on giving. Not content with the Daimler art collection, San Salvatore, a Roman domus or two and lots of archaeological displays, when I visited it was also showing From de Chirico to Cattelan and beyond. This is a show of more than 80 works by Italian artists from the early ’20s up to today.
Georgio Morandi, 1946, Natura morta
Showcasing works from the museums and private collections around Brescia this is an insight into the development of Italian art over the last century. The exhibition started with the reflected lights and decomposed forms of Futurism, followed by paintings of some of the masters of figuration and informal painting in which…and I quote from the official guide… ‘the sign becomes action and the colour becomes matter’. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
Mario Sironi, 1945, Doppie figura
Passing through Spatialism and Pop Art the exhibition also covers Arte Povera, finishing with contemporary work that is scattered amongst the different rooms and courtyards of the whole museum. There’s so much of it, in such unexpected places (in the Roman domus, per esempio) that you start to look at everything on the walls as though it might be part of the contemporary show…
The exhibition features work by Severini, Fontana, Pistoletto, Merz and many more and is on, I believe, until 30 June. Catch it if you can at
Museo di Santa Giulia
via Musei 81
Brescia
Leave a Reply