Contemporary artistic research as a strategic cultural policy intervention. It was with this goal in mind that the Farnesina Collection was established in 2000.
On the initiative of the then Secretary General, Ambassador Umberto Vattani, and thanks to the work of several scientific committees, the Collection brings together works of the highest profile in the history of Italian art of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Collection features works by the historical masters of the first half of the 20th century – from Futurism (Balla, Boccioni, Depero) to Metaphysics (de Chirico) and the return to Figuration, in its dual expression of the so-called Novecentisti (Carrà, Sironi, Soffici) and Anti-Novecentisti (Cagli, Campigli, Pirandello, Scipione, Martini) – and by the protagonists of the post-World War II period – both in Realism (Guttuso) and Abstract Art (Accardi, Sanfilippo, Dorazio, Consagra, Perilli), as well as in Informal Art (Afro, Burri, Vedova) and Spatialism (Fontana). It also features the developments of the second half of the 20th century in the so-called Arte Povera (Kounellis, Merz, Paolini), Pop Art (Angeli, Pascali, Rotella, Schifano), Conceptual Art (Isgrò, Mauri, Manzoni) and Perceptual Art (Castellani, Bonalumi, Marchegiani), until the last decades of the century – from New Figuration (Vespignani), to Anachronism (Mariani, Galliani, Gandolfi) and Transavantgarde (Chia, Cucchi, Paladino).
A collection that continues to be enriched with works by the major protagonists of the Italian art scene at the end of the last century and with an ever-increasing focus on the most current research and languages, thanks also to the acquisition method adopted – free loan for use – which favours an ongoing development and continuous renewal of the Collection.
The works are a powerful tool for cultural diplomacy, and for accompanying the Ministry’s actions with the power of their message.
