Roberto Casamonti opened his first gallery forty years ago on the chic via Tornabuoni and there are now locations in seven in cities all around the globe. Having made his fortune in the art world, the 78 year-old has decided to give back to the world with art and purchased the piano nobile of the Renaissance Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni in order to display and open his truly extraordinary private art collection to the public. Opened on the 25th of March this year, this gallery is located just off piazza Santa Trinità and free to visit (with an appointment) until the 31st of May, with a fee thereafter.
Providing his hometown with an excellent museum of modern and contemporary art has been a long-standing dream of Casamonti's who says: “It’s a project that I’ve had in mind for four or five years, a desire that I had that slowly formalized over time.” The gallery displays around 250 of 5,000 pieces in his collection, with examples dating to a period spanning from the early 1900s to the 1960s and featuring works from the Futurist, Arte Povera, Pop-Art and Minimalist movements, to name but a few. Artists represented by the collection include Picasso, Yves Klein, Paul Klee, Emilio Vedova, Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana, Umberto Boccioni, Andy Warhol, Basquiat and many others.
Different pieces will be traded in and out and temporary exhibitions will be arranged in the gallery moving forward. The first two exhibitions at the Casamonti Collection are being organized by Bruno Corà, the president of the Fondazione Alberto Burri. The first will feature Giorgio de Chirico, Deux Pigeons by Picasso, and several works by Lucio Fontana and the second exhibition will focus on post-1960s art and feature works by Keith Haring, Anish Kapoor and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In addition to these two exhibitions, an important body of works by the Arte Povera conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti will be on display.
Of opening his collection to the public, Casamonti says that it, “reflects my firm belief that art should be loved for what it is, for its educational value and the emotions it can arouse, and not based on its economic value, and even less for its role as a vehicle of social status.”
If you have found a luxury villa in Florence, be sure to drop by the Casamonti Collection and check it out for yourself.
Opening hours:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 11.30am to 7pm
Ticket office closes at 6.30pm
Free entrance by appointment until May 31, 2018
+39 055 602030
Different pieces will be traded in and out and temporary exhibitions will be arranged in the gallery moving forward. The first two exhibitions at the Casamonti Collection are being organized by Bruno Corà, the president of the Fondazione Alberto Burri. The first will feature Giorgio de Chirico, Deux Pigeons by Picasso, and several works by Lucio Fontana and the second exhibition will focus on post-1960s art and feature works by Keith Haring, Anish Kapoor and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In addition to these two exhibitions, an important body of works by the Arte Povera conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti will be on display.
Of opening his collection to the public, Casamonti says that it, “reflects my firm belief that art should be loved for what it is, for its educational value and the emotions it can arouse, and not based on its economic value, and even less for its role as a vehicle of social status.”
If you have found a luxury villa in Florence, be sure to drop by the Casamonti Collection and check it out for yourself.
Opening hours:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 11.30am to 7pm
Ticket office closes at 6.30pm
Free entrance by appointment until May 31, 2018
+39 055 602030
