Over the next two months, it will be possible to admire 15 works from the Farnesina Contemporary Art Collection at the Museu Nacional dos Coches of Lisbon. The exhibition, ‘A window on the the Farnesina Contemporary Art Collection. 15 Works’, curated by Angela Tecce and organised by the Italian Cultural Institute under the patronage of the Italian Embassy and in association with the Museum and the support of the Lisbon-based insurance company Generali – Companhia de Seguros, offers a significant insight into the Italian art scene from the post-World War II period to date.
The very targeted selection, displayed according to the layout designed by architect Nadir Bonaccorso, aims to highlight the multifaceted research efforts both by artists of consolidated eminent repute and by younger artists. Works by Enrico Baj, Gabriele Basilico, Elena Bellantoni, Domenico Bianchi, Alberto Di Fabio, Flavio Favelli, Alberto Garutti, Francesco Impellizzeri, Mimmo Jodice, Domenico Antonio Mancini, Liliana Moro, Luigi Ontani, Pietro Ruffo, Ettore Spalletti and Luca Vitone use techniques spanning traditional methods, photography, video and installations.
The exhibition itinerary plots a particularly high-quality course, revealing the deep-set ties with Italian figurative art and the extent to which contemporary art is capable of grasping the events of individual and societal life typical of our world, transferring them to the realm of art and poetic reflection.
The Farnesina Collection, the pride of the Foreign Ministry, was established twenty or so years ago at the initiative of the then Foreign Ministry Secretary General, Ambassador Umberto Vattani, thanks to the contribution of art critic Maurizio Calvesi, and currently comprises more than 470 works by over 250 artists. Many of the works of the Farnesina Collection have been displayed in qualified exhibitions in the most internationally prestigious museums and also in travelling exhibitions organized by the Ministry to promote 20th and 21st century Italian art abroad. The exhibition was formerly held in Dakar and, after Lisbon, is due to travel to Paris.