The Italian city of Mantua will see the birth of a new Museum of Contemporary Art, set up within the spaces of the Palazzo della Ragione. This has been made possible through a recent partnership with the Sonnabend Foundation of New York. As many as 96 works from the American collection, by the greatest artists of the European and American twentieth century, including Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario Schifano, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Jeff Koons, will be exhibited at the museum. Thus, many masterpieces of contemporary art heritage related to Pop Art and Arte Povera will be on display.
“An extraordinary and unprecedented operation for Mantua that gives it an international dimension,” said Mayor Mattia Palazzi during the press conference.
The Sonnabend Collection was created by art dealer Ileana Sonnabend (1914-2007), together with her husband Michael Sonnabend (1900-2001) with the collaboration of their adopted son Antonio Homem, current president of the Foundation. It is one of the richest and most valuable art collections in the world, bringing together many works by artists who belonged to the Avant-Garde movement of the second half of the twentieth century displayed in their galleries in Paris and New York. The Sonnabends played a crucial role in disseminating American art in Europe and at the same time, making European artists known in the United States.
“For our Renaissance city it is a strategic investment, but it is also a success for Italy,” the mayor added, announcing as a goal ”the opening of the museum before Christmas 2025″. Palazzi said he was “happy and moved” by the conclusion of the operation “which began as a dream that turned into a project and will soon become reality.” The works, worth $270 million, were granted by Sonnabend on free loan to the municipality “for six years, renewable for another six,” he explained. However, the mayor stressed his intention “ for the museum in Mantua to become a permanent home” for the collection.
