The idea of exhibiting a group of works representing Italian art in the 20th century was conceived in 2000 at the initiative of Secretary General Umberto Vattani with the aim of underlining the importance the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attributes to the promotion of art as an instrument of "cultural diplomacy". The number of paintings, sculptures, mosaics and installations filling the ministry's corridors, meeting rooms and offices of high-level officials - collected in a few years under the scientific supervision of Professor Maurizio Calvesi - is truly striking! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has thus become the public building containing the highest number of works by Italian contemporary artists, bearing witness to our country's dynamism and creative vitality.
The artistic output of the 1900s in Italy is so large that it is impossible for a collection to be exhaustive. For this reason an original procedure for acquiring the works has been adopted: for the most part they are temporary loans made available by the artists themselves, as well as by museums, foundations and collectors. This procedure allows the works on show to be alternated, transforming the display, the only one of its kind, into an open collection that is changed over the years and enriched with new names.
The exhibition covers most of last century's artistic output. Starting with Futurism - the first Italian artistic movement of the 1900s - and its most important representatives Balla and Boccioni, as well as with the Metaphysical paintings of Giorgio De Chirico, it takes in all the artists and artistic trends of the 20th century in Italy up until the present day. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Collection of Contemporary Italian Art shows a century of Italian art represented by internationally-known artists.
Seeing as the operational requirements of the building make access to the collection by the wider public difficult, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seizes every opportunity to make this patrimony known outside the restricted circles of the ministry's staff and outside of Italy's borders.