The exhibitions to see in November in Italy

What to do when autumn arrives? The temperatures drop (finally!), the rainy and windy days pile up. The result is that we become lazy and, when not compelled by work commitments, we don't wanto to leave the comfort of our couches and Netflix TV series at the risk of becoming increasingly lazy and falling into a kind of social lethargy. Unless we want to live in sweatpants, let's take turns with an activity that gets us out of the house and immerses us in beauty. The month of November is full of interesting exhibitions that you can visit to immerse yourself in or discover the work of artists like Vivian Maier and Walter Albini. From contemporary art to photography and fashion, there's plenty on offer to suit all tastes. G-Club helps you decide how to spend your weekends with 10 exhibitions you should see in Italy in November.

Fabio Imperiale - Milan

Female resilience, determination and solidarity are some of the themes of Marginalia, the new art project by Fabio Imperiale, which will be exhibited at the Luciana Matalon Foundation in Milan from 17 November to 1 December 2023. It consists of twenty portraits of women artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, pastors, dockworkers, activists, girlfriends, wives and mothers painted by the artist using coffee, ink and bitumen on a collage of antique postcards. The picture is then mounted on cardboard and accompanied by the artist's words, which he collected in a travel diary. The result is intimate, delicate yet powerful, touching on themes like women's empowerment and gender equality. Trivia: The title of the exhibition, Marginalia, refers to the annotations made in the margins of the manuscript before the invention of printing.

Title: Marginalia

When: 17 November to 1 December 2023

Where: Luciana Matalon Foundation, Milan

Vivian Maier - Bologna

Until 28 January 2024 Palazzo Pallavicini is hosting an exhibition dedicated to Vivian Maier in its Renaissance halls: almost 150 original photographs, 111 in black and white and 35 in colour, as well as Super 8mm, offering an unprecedented look at Maier's work. The story of Vivian Maier is interesting. She is one of many French women who emigrate to New York in the 1930s. She got her first job as a saleswoman in a sweet shop and, after moving to Chicago, became a nanny. When she had a few spare moments, Vivian took pictures with her Rolleiflex K8 T1 bioptic medium format camera. And she really did a lot of it. Over the course of her life, she described more than two decades of American history: old women staring at her, men smoking, children crying, young people holding hands. In this way she created a small world of characters and gestures that paved the way for street photography but were to be discovered long after her death. The exhibition in Bologna is therefore a unique opportunity to fall in love with Vivian Maier's talent.

Title: Vivian Maier - Anthology

When: until 28 January 2024

Where: Palazzo Pallavicini, Bologna

Alphonse Mucha - Florence

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Paris experienced its Belle Époque and was considered the centre of the art world. Alphonse Mucha is the most famous artist of this period, also because of his collaboration with Sarah Bernhardt, the most beautiful actress of the time. His works, illustrations and theatrical posters are centered on voluptuous and seductive female figures, depicted between the sacred and the profane, represent a unique style of composition that chaged the world of art and communication. The exhibition at the Museo degli Innocenti in Florence is an important opportunity to discover the talent of the father of Art Nouveau.

Title: Alphonse Mucha. La seduzione dell’Art Nouveau

When: until 7 April 2024

Where: Museo degli Innocenti, Florence

Adelisa Selimbašić - Milan

Adelisa Selimbašić, who graduated in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice in 1996, is known for her depictions of women in everyday contexts and for her bold use of colour; in this new series of paintings, she shows bodies that dissolve and take on an ambiguous dimension. Her art is a reflection on "how female bodies are perceived in relation to the most common heteronormative stereotypes and, more importantly, the internal struggle these perceptions bring: a challenge between our authentic selves and what society imposes on us". As part of her new solo exhibition titled "Why Is It So Hard to Declare Yourself?" at IPERCUBO's headquarters at Corso di Porta Ticinese 87 in Milan, the Bosnian-Italian artist will be showing never-before-seen works she created while living in New York, many of which feature people embracing each other.

Title: Perché è così difficile dichiararsi?

When: until 5 January 2024

Where: IPERCUBO, Milan

Helmut Newton - Rome

Helmut Newton's work is iconic and continues to influence the world of art, fashion and communication. To mark the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth, the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome is presenting a comprehensive retrospective dedicated to the famous photographer, curated by Matthias Harder, director of the Helmut Newton Foundation, and Denis Curti, artistic director of Le Stanze della Fotografia in Venice. It is a journey through his human and professional life through more than 200 photographs, journals and documents. Among these materials are 80 photographs that are being exhibited for the first time. The exhibition is divided into six chronological chapters that tell the story of Newton's photographic evolution: from his beginnings in Australia in the 1940s and 1950s to his last years of production, through the 1960s in France, the 1970s in the United States, the 1980s between Monte Carlo and Los Angeles, and the numerous shoots around the world in the 1990s.

Title: Helmut Newton. Legacy

When: until 10 March 2024

Where: Ara Pacis Museum, Rome

Walter Albini - Parma

Lately, Walter Albini has been the talk of the town again. This is partly because the Bidayat Group has acquired the intellectual property of his archives, and partly because of the possible return of the brand with Alessandro Michele as creative director. Despite the renewed interest, few people are really aware of the designer's work and contribution to Italian and international fashion. The Parma Centre for Communication Studies and Archives offers us the opportunity to discover it. In fact, the CSAC holds one of the most extensive and heterogeneous collections of Albini's documents, consisting of about five thousand design materials. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the artist's death, it presents his avant-garde vision and creative flair in its exhibition spaces through a selection of drawings, documents and garments covering the period from 1960 to 1980, from Albini's early beginnings to his last creations.

Title: Walter Albini

When: until 23 December 2023

Where: Centre for Studies and Archives of Communication - CSAC of the University of Parma

Marcel Duchamp - Venice

Throughout his artistic career, Marcel Duchamp constantly challenged the traditional hierarchy between original and copy, radically redefining what constitutes a work of art. This aspect of the French artist's work is the focus of the major retrospective on view at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection until 18 March 2024. The exhibition features around sixty works created between 1911 and 1968 and presents iconic works from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection - one of the most prestigious museums in Italy and the United States - including Nude, Sad Young Man on a Train and Box in a Suitcase. In addition to these works, there are also a number of lesser-known works from the artist's estate and private collections that illustrate Duchamp's theory that duplicates and originals offer a similar aesthetic pleasure.

Title: Marcel Duchamp e la seduzione della copia

When: until 18 March 2024

Where: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

Francisco Goya - Milan

Who says you have to miss out on the spooky atmosphere after Halloween? The dark and rainy autumn/winter weather is a perfect match for Goya's art, which is on display in an exhibition at Milan's Palazzo Reale. In seven thematic sections, the exhibition shows the revolutionary scope of the Spanish master's painting, which lived through a historical period full of changes and political, social and ideological events: the end of the old regime, the era of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, the absolutist restoration and exile. All events are reflected in the gloom of his works.

Title: Goya. La ribellione della ragione

When: until 3 March 2024

Where: Palazzo Reale, Milan

Yayoi Kusama - Bergamo

On the occasion of the Italian Capital of Culture Bergamo Brescia 2023, the Palazzo della Ragione in Bergamo will show the exhibition Yayoi Kusama. Infinite Presence from 17 November 2023 to 14 January 2024. For the first time, Fireflies on the Water, one of her most iconic Infinity Mirror Rooms from the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, will be on view in Italy. The installation, conceived by Maria Marzia Minelli, consists of an introductory path that delves into Yayoi Kusama's research through poems, films and documentaries, creating a physical and digital space of lived experience and making it possible to immerse oneself in the imagery of the famous Japanese artist from different angles. The focus, however, is Fireflies on the Water, an installation consisting of a room lined on all sides with mirrors. In the centre of the room is a pool of water that creates a sense of stillness, into which protrude a pillar-like viewing platform and 150 small lights hanging from the ceiling that, as the title suggests, look like fireflies.

Title: Yayoi Kusama. Infinito Presente

When: 17 November 2023 to 24 March 2024

Where: Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo

Michelangelo Pistoletto - Turin

On the occasion of Art Week and the 30th edition of Artissima, the Castello di Rivoli is dedicating a major solo exhibition to Michelangelo Pistoletto, in collaboration with the artist. Marcella Beccaria, who curated the project together with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, explains the exhibition's process: "Many of one is a city of art built as a walk-in architecture, consisting of 29 Uffizi galleries or rooms. The Uffizi are conceived as open and interconnected spaces and encompass metaverse, art, science, philosophy, law, architecture, communication, politics, ecology, surveillance, sports, mathematics, spirituality, religion, mythology, education, education, symbology, cosmology, design, funeral, history, urbanism, fashion, space, writing, health, information technology and nature. The 29 Uffizi shows the structure that the artist believes underlies civil and social life, proposing a vast network of relationships and a purposeful dynamism that aims to break down walls and divisions."

Title: Michelangelo Pistoletto. Molti di uno

When: until 25 February 2024

Where: Rivoli Castle, Turin