NEW YORK, OCTOBER 12 – With a Boccioni, a Pistoletto, and a Giulio Paolini, the exhibition “The Grand Italian Vision. Farnesina Collection” has been unveiled today at UN headquarters in New York. “Art is the product of unhindered imagination, and Italian art is the best example of it. From the Renaissance to today, Italian art has consistently operated on the dual tracks of renewal and memory,” explains Achille Bonito Oliva, the art critic and curator of the exhibition that kicked off. The exhibition has been installed at the Delegates’ Entrance and along the Curved Wall. It will stay open until October 27.
Cutting the ribbon on this exciting journey through the history of Italian art from the 20th century to today was Italy’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Maurizio Massari, accompanied by the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, Fabio Finotti, Ambassador Umberto Vattani, to whose vision and passion the collection owes its origin, and Bonito Oliva. “Culture is identity, but it’s also a catalyst for economic and social development and a means for transmitting humanism, a value increasingly necessary and at the heart of our diplomatic efforts to restore peace,” said Massari.
The project offers a grand tour of our country’s creativity through 71 pieces selected from the art collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The works, which testify to the richness of the cultural heritage that resides in the spaces of the Farnesina Palace in Rome, are being exhibited at the highest Italian institutional venues in New York through a distributed path between the Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the Residence of the Italian Ambassador, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the Consulate General of Italy. New York is one of the many stops the Farnesina Collection has made this year, having already passed through Asia – Singapore, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Seoul – before arriving in the United States.
Of the 71 works exhibited in New York, 26 are already available at the Italian Cultural Institute, 17 at the Consulate General of Italy, 6 in the hall and waiting room of the Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and three in the Residence of the Ambassador. 15 works have now been placed at UN Headquarters.
The works include “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space” (1913) by Umberto Boccioni, “The Etruscan” (1976) by Michelangelo Pistoletto, inspired by the ancient statue of the Arringatore noiw in the Archaeological Museum in Florence, and “Jove and Antiope” (2016 – 2021) by Giulio Paolini; which, along with “Hermes” (2007) by Vettor Pisani, “N.1 Penguin” (1987 – 2005) – “N.2 Penguin” (1987 – 2005) by Maurizio Mochetti, “All the Steps I’ve Taken in My Life Have Brought Me Here, Now” (2005) by Alberto Garutti, “Untitled” (1996) by Vanessa Beecroft, are exhibited in the Delegates’ Entrance. At the Curved Wall, are installed “Sanctuary” (1986) by Mario Schifano, “Journey in Italy” (1955) by Achille Perilli, “CleoPatria” (1998) by Luigi Ontani, “Lin-sat” (1987) by Sergio Lombardo, “Celestial Painting” (1994) by Gianni Dessì, and “Untitled” (2022) by Domenico Bianchi. “Wings of Desire V, 2023,” a large work by Francesco Clemente, was generously made available only for the New York stop as a tribute to the “Grand Italian Vision – Farnesina Collection” and the institution that hosts it.
An overview of the New York project as a whole was presented at the Consulate General of Italy in New York on September 18, in the presence of the Vice President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, on the occasion of his participation in the High-Level Week of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. (@OnuItalia)
