MILAN.- Fondazione Luigi Rovati opened its Art Museum: two floors of exhibition space, with over 250 works that guide visitors from Etruscan times to the age of contemporary art. With the opening of the entire project, following the restoration, expansion, and repurposing of the Palazzo by MCA, Mario Cucinella Architects (the studio founded and led by Mario Cucinella), the process of gradually drawing Fondazione Luigi Rovati closer to the public is concluded.
The stone architecture of the Hypogeum Floor hosts a portion of the exhibition itinerary. Greeted by a large cinerary urn of travertine, visitors can move beneath cupolas, as triangular crystal display cases feature large vases, votive offerings, antefixes and small bronze pieces from Etruria, alongside modern and contemporary works by Arturo Martini, Lucio Fontana, and William Kentridge.
From the cupolas to the large ellipsoidal room, the artifacts on display tell of the everyday lives of Etruscans: their homes, shops, and the sea. Depicted on a vase by Picasso is an Etruscan banquet. The section In Search of Beauty is set up in a separate niche: small crystal boxes holding Etruscan jewels and trinkets, as well as other precious objects, including a small, gilded-bronze head of a woman by Alberto Giacometti. At the centre, the largest case holds the Museum’s symbol, the Cernuschi Warrior, a refined, expressive, bronze Etruscan votive piece. The section on writing features cinerary urns from Volterra and Chiusi, as well as small ceramic works whose inscriptions have been deciphered thanks to new technologies.
A large pane of glass in the Children’s room, where educational workshops are held for youngsters, reveals the architecture supporting the cupolas. Video-animation clips projected on stones in a small room narrate episodes from Etruscan history.
From the Hypogeum Floor, the Museum exhibition continues upstairs, on the Piano Nobile, the second above-ground level. The interior decorations designed by Filippo Perego in 1960 - from the wood paneling to the gilded doors, as well as the floors, the marble fireplaces and the eighteenth-century mirrors in the hallway - have all been recovered, renovated and readjusted for the use of an avant-garde exposition space, thus stimulating a dialogue between archaeology and modern art, and offering visitors cromatic and conceptual stimuli.
The canvas The Etruscan Scene: Female Ritual Dance (1985) by Andy Warhol, Polaroids from the series Etruschi (1984) by Paolo Gioli, drawings and watercolours by Augusto Guido Gatti (1863-1947), remains of paintings found in Tombs in Tarquinia: these are just some of the artworks perfectly integrated with the theme of Etruscan pottery in the display cases.
The exhibition itinerary continues in the other rooms, where works by contemporary artists ̶ Luigi Ontani, Giulio Paolini, Francesco Simeti, Marianna Kennedy – are housed in spaces that also hold Etruscan sculptures and artefacts. In addition to this wide variety of offerings, there are important pieces on loan, including an extensive collection of axes, clasps and working tools from the “San Francesco storehouse” of the Bologna Museum of Archaeology, as well as Le Cheval d’Agamemnon (1929), a large canvas by Giorgio de Chirico from the Giuseppe Merlini collection (Busto Arsizio, Province of Varese), while the Lanterne à quatre lumières (1983) by Diego Giacometti, a work commissioned by American collector and philanthropist Rachel Lambert (Bunny) Mellon, is found in the entryway.
“The goal of the various sections of the exhibition itinerary is to create a narrative continuum from the Hypogeum Floor to the Piano Nobile in which the ancient and the modern and contemporary engage in a dialogue with one another, thanks to contrasts and similarities” – explains Giovanna Forlanelli, President of the foundation – “the visitors will experience not only the artifacts and artworks on display, but the architectural spaces as well, all of which, thanks to their constantly varying forms, lighting effects and colours, are not simply containers, but essential parts of the Museum experience”.
“The collections of Etruscan and modern art accessible since September 7th are the heart and entryway to the Fondazione Luigi Rovati, but they are not the sum total of its efforts” – continues Salvatore Settis, coordinator of the foundation’s Steering Committee – “as these include maintaining close ties with the city of Milan and its institutions, in addition to providing new spaces for a multidisciplinary dialogue, with a focus on ideas and activities that prove socially beneficial. Whatever cultural initiatives are undertaken, they are meant to display the same level of quality and commitment made readily apparent by the works on display.”
The exhibition spaces are designed to serve as an integrated, well-defined platform for temporary events, providing visitors with a brand-new museum experience. Furthermore, the White Space on the first floor and the Pavilion in the garden are entirely reserved for temporary projects.
Along with its exhibition activities, the foundation develops research and education initiatives. The services and spaces earmarked for this purpose include, in addition to the Study Room on the second floor (where volumes on loan from the foundation’s library in Monza can be consulted), the sub-basement level, which holds the entire Foundation Study Collection. Reserved exclusively for experts and researchers, this floor is opened up to the public on “special” occasions.
The foundation promotes access to knowledge, making every effort to overcome physical, social and cultural barriers through partnerships with professionals and non-profit associations. From this coming Autumn, the Museo per Tutti (“Everybody’s Museum”), a free guide with assistance for visitors with cognitive disabilities, will be available free-of-charge thanks to an initiative realized by L’Abilità Onlus and supported by the De Agostini Foundation. Moreover, an accessible museum tour for the sight-impaired has been developed in partnership with the Istituto dei Ciechi (Institute of the Blind) of Milan, complete with 3D reproductions of a series of artefacts, as well as a guide in braille.
“The Museum is a place of research, experimentation and knowledge, in accordance with the principles of social utility that guide all the foundation’s activities. This is why the Museum will initially be open free of charge to the public, without any formal inauguration ceremony,” concludes Giovanna Forlanelli.
