Gallerie d'Italia celebrates 1960s art and Robert Rauschenberg

Following the donation by the Agrati family, Intesa Sanpaolo is now the owner and custodian of one of the most important art collections of the second half of 20th century Italy, the Luigi and Peppino Agrati collection, which has thus become part of the Bank's artistic heritage. With this exhibition, the enhancement of the collection continues, following the exhibitions “Arte come rivelazione. Opere dalla collezione Luigi e Peppino Agrati” (Art as Revelation. Works from the Luigi and Peppino Agrati Collection) in 2018 and “Una collezione inattesa: Viaggio nel contemporaneo tra pittura e scultura” (An unexpected collection: a journey into the contemporary between painting and sculpture) in 2023.

The Luigi and Peppino Agrati collection was created in 1968 by the two prominent industrialists, heirs and exponents of Lombardy's enlightened bourgeoisie. After Peppino's death, the mission was continued by his brother Luigi who, together with his wife, decided to donate this treasure to Intesa Sanpaolo. These include unique works by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Rauschenberg, Christo, and, alongside them, a host of the most prestigious Italian artists, including Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Mario Schifano, Alberto Burri and Fausto Melotti. With many of them, the Agrati family enjoyed a relationship of much dialogue and friendship. From Informal to Pop Art, from Arte Povera to Conceptual Art and onto Neo-expressionism and Transavantgarde, the collection traverses and interweaves the movements that marked the course of not only Italian but international art in the second half of the 20th century. The collection is the result of a deep passion, an intellectual and social sensitivity towards individual artists and the context in which they worked. The collection reveals the close relationship between collector, artist and the very meaning of the work of art.