A journey through art in Milan

Milan is not only about fashion and design: in the first half of the new year, the city transforms into a true capital of art, with an exceptionally rich calendar of exhibitions spanning different periods and artistic languages, offering visitors the chance to discover something new each time.

From Arnaldo Pomodoro to the Macchiaioli, from Grand Tour works to Napoleonic Neoclassicism, the offer is wide-ranging and touches several areas of the city.

The journey begins in the Porta Genova district, where the Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro is hosting until May 31st, the fourth installment of Open Studio, the cycle of exhibitions set up in the spaces of the artist’s studio. This new chapter presents a route built around three themes: “place,” “memory,” and “vision”, key concepts for interpreting Pomodoro’s reflection on the nature of sculpture and its relationship with space, developed over five decades of activity, from the 1970s to the 2010s.

Moving to the heart of the city, at Palazzo Reale next to the Duomo, the exhibition program is particularly intense. From February 3rd to June 14th, “The Macchiaioli” is on show, a major retrospective dedicated to the movement that revolutionized 19th-century Italian painting, featuring over 100 works from leading Italian museums. The exhibition retraces the journey of artists such as Fattori, Lega, and Signorini, who waged an aesthetic and civic battle with brushes and colors, closely intertwined with the events of the Risorgimento.

From February 7th to September 27th, the Sala delle Cariatidi hosts “Anselm Kiefer. The Alchemists”, an exhibition of 40 monumental works created specifically by the German artist to engage in dialogue with the dramatic beauty of this space, marked by the 1943 bombing. The central theme is the strength of women who, among test tubes and ancient books, sought to uncover the secrets of nature.

Also at Palazzo Reale, from January 29th to May 17th, visitors can admire the photographic works of Robert Mapplethorpe in the exhibition “The Forms of Desire”, a wide and unprecedented selection of the most iconic, powerful and unconventional works by the American photographer. It is a journey into his aesthetic research, featuring his sensual nudes, distinguished by formal perfection and an Olympic Greek mimesis in which musculature and physical tension stand out.

Palazzo Reale is also one of the focal points of the exhibition route “Metaphysics / Metaphysics“ (January 28th–June 21st), which also involves Museo del Novecento, Gallerie d’Italia and Palazzo Citterio. This itinerant journey features around 400 works, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, design objects, as well as architectural models and maquettes, illustrations, comics, magazines, videos, and vinyl records, with national and international loans from more than 150 institutions, both public and private, as well as galleries, archives, and prestigious private collections.

The exhibition seeks to explore how the atmospheres and solutions of Metaphysical art have influenced different fields, from architecture to cinema, from design to photography, and even fashion and literature.

Focusing on the Gallerie d’Italia in Piazza Scala, until April 6th it will be possible to visit an exhibition that is a true clash of artistic titans: “Eternity and Vision. Rome and Milan, Capitals of Neoclassicism”. The exhibition centers on the period from Napoleon’s descent into Italy (1796) to the Congress of Vienna (1815). In this time of profound transformation, only two cities managed to maintain a central role in the art world: Rome, the eternal capital thanks to its ancient and Renaissance heritage, and Milan, aspiring to become the beacon of modernity.

The protagonists of the exhibition are two brilliant figures, bound by a fraternal friendship: Antonio Canova, one of the greatest artists of all time, and Giuseppe Bossi, an extraordinary painter, a great connoisseur of Leonardo, a refined collector and the founder of the Pinacoteca di Brera.

To conclude this artistic exploration, the Museo Poldi Pezzoli is hosting, until May 4th, “Wonders of the Grand Tour”, a project developed in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exhibition tells the story and celebrates the beauty of the Grand Tour not only through paintings, but also through period fans, fine porcelain, ancient sculptures, and all those mementos that nobles from across Europe brought home as luxury souvenirs.

Milan thus offers its visitors a complete immersion in the world of art, featuring international artists and cross-disciplinary languages ranging from photography to painting, from sculpture to decorative arts. Hotel VIU Milan accompanies its guests along this path, offering a comfortable and relaxing stay in an ideal location, making it easy to reach all the city’s main exhibition venues.

Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro – Palazzo Reale – Gallerie d’Italia – Museo Poldi Pezzoli