The Collection consists of several hundred works of art that date from 1945 to the present, of which something more than two hundred are on permanent display as an in-depth presentation of a number of the central artistic tendencies, both Italian and international, of the second half of the 20th century. It consists primarily of paintings but it also holds sculptures and installations. The artists are represented by significant works from their early careers, and thus by examples of the ways in which their work first brought elements of true innovation into the research of contemporary art.

The permanent collection begins with a number of important European paintings that represent the abstract-expressionist movements of the Fifties, generally known as art informel, and there is also a group of proto-conceptual Italian works. It continues with an important selection of the works of the “Roman School” of Pop Art, and then with a considerable number of Arte Povera works. These sections of the Collection are followed in turn by various fundamental works from the area of Italian neo-expressionism (Transavanguardia), and as well by significant works of German and American neo-expressionism. Next we find a considerable group of works of the American New Geometry, from the Eighties and Nineties, followed finally by the most recent experimentations in both the United States and Great Britain.

Most of the Collection’s 21st century works have not been included in the permanent exhibition, and are presented in theme-based shows in the ground-floor spaces for temporary exhibitions. The Collection is itself a “work in progress” and will continue in the future to document the novel paths that the further evolution of contemporary art continues to explore.

Ellen Gallagher (bio), Pino Pascali, Anselm Kiefer, Osvaldo Licini, Claudio Parmiggiani, Eric Fischl, Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Piero Manzoni, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mimmo Paladino