The exhibitions to see in July in Italy
From the sculptures of Louise Bourgeois to the art, design, and fashion of the 1960s
G-Club
July 2nd, 2024
July 2nd, 2024
Art doesn't take a vacation. In fact, this July also offers a full immersion in paintings, sculptures, and installations. Museums across Italy showcase the works of the iconic Louise Bourgeois, including her giant metallic spider, Martin Parr's photographs set in China, celebrities jumping in front of Philippe Halsman's camera, and a journey through Italian painters of the Belle Époque. For theater lovers, there’s an exhibition dedicated to Eleonora Duse, featuring many of her extraordinary costumes, while those wanting to relive the 1960s can find pieces of design and fashion all collected in one location. Which one would you choose?
Here are the exhibitions to see in July in Italy.
DIORAMA – Nuoro
In Greek, Diorama means "to see through" or "inside something," but it’s also the title of the new group exhibition opening in July at the MAN in Nuoro. Selected Italian and international artists, each with their own style, reflect on global ecological transformation, the human condition, Earth’s history, and our connection with other species. The result includes paintings, sculptures, installations, and videos ranging from mimetic creativity to post-natural treatment, interspecific hybridization to wunderkammer taxidermy, natural landscape invention to unexplored visions of generative intelligence.
Title: DIORAMA – Generation Earth
When: from July 5, 2024, to November 10, 2024
Where: MAN_Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro
Martin Parr and Marc Riboud - Aosta
Starting July 5, the Forte di Bard in Aosta will host the exhibition China. From the Cultural Revolution to a Global Superpower, an original photographic project curated by Martin Parr. On display are over seventy shots taken by Martin Parr and Marc Riboud during their travels through China, beginning in the late 1950s. Parr focuses more on modern China, conquered by consumerism and luxury, while his colleague captures a deeply divided and wounded society, the result of the two-decade-long conflict between communists and nationalists.
Title: China. From the Cultural Revolution to a Global Superpower. Martin Parr and Marc Riboud
When: from July 5, 2024, to November 17, 2024
Where: Forte di Bard, Aosta
Rita Sabo - Rome
Rita Sabo will hold a solo exhibition in the Corner Space of the MAXXI in Rome, featuring 12 paintings and 18 sculptures centered around the theme of sustainability. The concept highlights the 17 sustainable development goals defined by the United Nations as a strategy "to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all." This is a unique opportunity to discover Sabo's kaleidoscopic and colorful works, with their geometric shapes and ancient symbols, which together seem like a true celebration of life. The same mood applies to Sacred Planet, a sculpture depicting a planet surrounded by two rings symbolizing the continuous flow of energy, through which the artist expresses her holistic vision of global sustainability.
Title: Rita Sabo. Sacred Planet
When: from July 4, 2024, to August 4, 2024
Where: MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome
Poetry and Photography - Palermo
"Only that love strikes you", a verse from a poem by Salvatore Quasimodo, is the title of the exhibition that will be open from July 4 to September 8 in the three halls of the Real Albergo delle Povere in Palermo. The project connects the nature of the photographic image with the power of the poetic verse, involving Sicilian artists and poets, all different from one another but connected by contrast or assonance. Among the names involved are Salvatore Arancio, Andrea Di Marco, Daniele Franzella, Giulia Parlato, Lia Pasqualino, Letizia Battaglia, Angelo Pitrone, and Ferdinando Scianna.
Title: Only that love strikes you. Notes from the plural island, between poetry and photography
When: from July 4, 2024, to September 8, 2024
Where: Real Albergo delle Povere, Palermo
Italia Sessanta - Gorizia
Palazzo Attems Petzenstein in Gorizia hosts a new major exhibition dedicated to the 1960s: a rich display of over 200 items, including furniture, metals, glass, ceramics, clothing, accessories, paintings, and sculptures from the era. You can see many iconic objects from that decade live, with their bright colors, innovative design, plastic materials, and the idea of representing a moment of social and cultural revolution. There will be dresses by Valentino, Capucci, Missoni, Pucci, Balestra, and bags and shoes by Ferragamo, Gucci, Roberta di Camerino; new furnishings by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Gae Aulenti, or Gio Ponti; and cult pieces like Ettore Sottsass' Valentine typewriter for Olivetti
Title: Italia Sessanta. Art, Fashion, and Design. From Boom to Pop
When: until October 27, 2024
Where: Palazzo Attems Petzenstein, Gorizia
Belle Époque - Carrara
Palazzo Cucchiari in Carrara offers a full immersion into the Belle Époque of Italian art history: from the Macchiaioli to the Scapigliatura, to Divisionism. The exhibition features around ninety works spanning from 1864 to 1917. Paintings on canvas and wood, watercolors, pastels, and sculptures in bronze and plaster by artists in search of an expressive language adequate to the reality of the time, such as Giovanni Boldini, Giuseppe De Nittis, Plinio Monellini, and Pellizza da Volpedo.
When: until October 27, 2024
Where: Palazzo Cucchiari, Carrara
Louise Bourgeois - Florence
Not one, but two exhibitions dedicated to Louise Bourgeois, Do Not Abandon Me and Cell XVIII (Portrait), will be held at the Museo Novecento and the Museo degli Innocenti in Florence. The first offers an opportunity to admire one hundred works by the artist, including many on paper, such as gouaches and drawings made in the 2000s. Highlights include sculptures of various sizes in fabric, bronze, marble, and other materials, including the iconic Spider Couple, one of Bourgeois's most famous and emblematic creations. The second exhibition focuses on Cell XVIII (Portrait), a visually striking work that seems to reinterpret the iconography of the Madonna della Misericordia.
Title: Louise Bourgeois in Florence
When: until October 20, 2024
Where: Museo Novecento and Museo degli Innocenti, Florence
Eleonora Duse - Venice
Until October 13, Palazzo Cini in Venice hosts a special exhibition project dedicated to Eleonora Duse and her extraordinary artistic career. This is an immersion into the universe of the famous actress, featuring documents and objects that belonged to her, including autographed letters from various correspondents and rare photographs of Duse in private moments. Particularly noteworthy are the garments from her private wardrobe. These haute couture models, perfectly preserved, recreate the charm of distant and particularly evocative years, made by the Magugliani tailor shop, created by the atelier Jean Philippe Worth, Paul Poiret, and Mariano Fortuny.
Title: Eleonora Duse Contemporary Myth
When: until October 13, 2024
Where: Palazzo Cini, Venice
Zhanna Kadyrova - Siena
For the third edition of CORTEMPORANEA, Palazzo Chigi Zondadari presents a solo exhibition of Zhanna Kadyrova. The Ukrainian artist transforms common objects into testimonies of a troubled present, a means of expressing the complexity of human emotions in response to war and loss. On this occasion, her art, both site-specific and ready-made, is inspired by Ukrainian daily life, marked by over two years of Russian occupation.
Title: Zhanna Kadyrova. Devil of Comparisons
When: until December 8, 2024
Where: Palazzo Chigi Zondadari, Siena
Philippe Halsman - Milan
Philippe Halsman is one of the greatest portrait photographers in history, having signed 101 LIFE covers. Famous is the Jumpology series, for which he managed to get crowned heads, scientists, heads of state, and screen stars to jump in front of his lens. The result? A series of extraordinary images, created with humor and deep lightness. This first Italian retrospective, created in collaboration with the Philippe Halsman Archive in New York, celebrates his work by presenting over 100 photographic prints, enriched by videos and various materials.
Title: Philippe Halsman. Stroke of Genius
When: until September 1, 2024
Where: Palazzo Reale, Milan