Fall 2024 exhibitions, the 25 most anticipated, must-see

What are the most anticipated exhibitions of fall 2024? The coming season is shaping up to be an interesting one for art lovers, with a calendar of exhibitions that promises to please all kinds of audiences. Indeed, the return from summer vacation marks the beginning of a particularly lively period for galleries and museums.

Among the most eagerly awaited exhibitions we find important retrospectives dedicated to great figures in ancient, modern and contemporary art (from Vasari to Munch, Marina Abramović to Bertozzi and Casoni), for a wide variety of themes and styles, including monographic, survey exhibitions and much more. So let’s find out which are the main ones for autumn 2024, a careful selection of the events that announce themselves as the most promising on the Italian scene. From painting to sculpture, from multimedia installations to photography, here is our selection of 25 exhibitions opening in autumn 2024, the best that art has to offer in the coming months, including masterpieces of the past and visions of the future.

1. Safe. Arriving on Time

Where and when: Turin, Pinacoteca Agnelli, Nov. 1, 2024 to May 24, 2025

Arriving in Time is the largest posthumous exhibition dedicated to the artist Salvo, curated by Sarah Cosulich and Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti. The exhibition will offer a path through Salvo’s work, highlighting how his painting has always been in continuity with his early conceptual research. Born in Sicily, Salvo has lived in Turin since 1956, where he first approached Arte Povera and the languages of conceptual art, and then devoted himself since 1973 only to painting. The retrospective exhibition dedicated to him will highlight how Salvo’s painting is not in opposition to his early conceptual period, but absorbs its characteristics and intentions, fitting coherently into his artistic path.

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2. Berthe Morisot. Impressionist painter

Where and when: Turin, GAM, from October 16, 2024 to March 9, 2025

Curated by Maria Teresa Benedetti and Giulia Perin, in collaboration with the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, a museum with the largest largest collection of works by the Impressionist painter from which important paintings come, and with the scientific advice of Sylvie Patry, one of the leading international experts on Berthe Morisot, the exhibition aims to celebrate the history and artistic journey of the famous painter, illustrating her connection to the poetics of the Impressionist movement and bringing out her highly personal way of capturing the lability of the moment, to symbolize the fragility of existence, able to gracefully represent the elements of nature and reality.

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3. Cyprien Gaillard. Retinal Rivalry

Where and when: Turin, OGR, from Oct. 30, 2024 to Feb. 2, 2025

The exhibition, curated by Samuele Piazza, represents a further step in Gaillard’s exploration of the moving image and its sculptural potential, which began with Nightlife in 2015. The film installation, visible for the first time in Italy after its debut at the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, transforms the film medium into a three-dimensional, psychedelic art form.

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4. Tuttoplessi

Where and when: Como, Palazzo del Broletto, Oct. 5 to Nov. 17, 2024

The exhibition, curated by Paolo Bolpagni and Giovanni Berera with the scientific coordination of Ilaria Bignotti, will reveal to the public the summa of Fabrizio Plessi’s technological revolution, developed in the 1970s, but which continues to provide stimuli and suggestions even at the beginning of the third decade of the new millennium. The spectacular installation, specially conceived for the hall of the medieval seat of the Como city government, will propose six enormous technological portals, each of which will contain a complex video system from which images will spring that will be amplified by a tank, placed at the foot of each portal, in a dynamic mirroring of the moving images. Each of these installations will visually explicate the most characteristic themes of his research, linked to natural elements such as water, lightning, fire, lava, gold, and smoke.

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5. Munch. The Inner Cry.

Where and when: Milan, Palazzo Reale, from Sept. 14, 2024 to Jan. 26, 2025

After 40 years, Palazzo Reale brings Munch back to Milan with 100 of his masterpieces. On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of his death, Palazzo Reale and Arthemisia in collaboration with the MUNCH Museum present a prestigious cultural event, a major monographic exhibition dedicated to one of the most beloved and popular artists of the last century: Edvard Munch. Throughout his artistic career, Edvard Munch explored questions of perennial existential significance and challenged the expressions of art. In this comprehensive exhibition, curated by Patricia Berman, Munch’s art will be explored from 1880 until his death in 1944. The exhibition includes 100 works including paintings, drawings and prints all from the MUNCH Museum.

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6. Niki de Saint Phalle

Where and when: Milan, MUDEC, from October 5, 2024 to February 16, 2025

Mudec - Museo delle Culture in Milan will host in its exhibition spaces a comprehensive retrospective exhibition dedicated to Niki de Saint Phalle, curated by Lucia Pesapane and realized in collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation. It is a tribute to the French-American artist that intends to reveal, however, also her committed side through a different reading of her art. Divided into eight sections, the exhibition narrates Niki de Saint Phalle’s artistic evolution, from her beginnings to her most recent works, following both a diachronic and anthological approach.

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7. Jean Tinguely

Where and when: Milan, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Oct. 10, 2024 to Feb. 2, 2025

Milan is preparing to celebrate Jean Tinguely, one of the greatest pioneers of 20th-century art, with an extensive retrospective at Pirelli HangarBicocca. From Oct. 10, 2024 to Feb. 2, 2025, the exhibition, which will occupy nearly 5,000 square meters of the Naves, will offer the public the opportunity to admire more than thirty seminal works by the Swiss artist, created between the 1950s and the 1980s. Curated by Camille Morineau, Lucia Pesapane and Vicente Todolí with Fiammetta Griccioli, this retrospective, the most extensive ever held in Italy after his death, is a unique tribute to Tinguely, whose last tribute in our country was in 1987.

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8. Picasso the Stranger

Where and when: Milan, Palazzo Reale, Sept. 20, 2024 to Feb. 2, 2025

Two exhibitions dedicated to Pablo Picasso, curated by Annie Cohen-Solal, will open in Mantua and Milan in September. It will begin in Mantua, at Palazzo Te, on September 5, 2024 with the exhibition Picasso at Palazzo Te. Poetry and Salvation, produced by Fondazione Palazzo Te with the collaboration of the Musée national Picasso-Paris and the artist’s family. Divided into four sections set up in the monumental rooms of Palazzo Te in dialogue with Giulio Romano’s frescoes, the exhibition will present about fifty works by Picasso, including drawings, documents, sculptures and paintings, some exceptionally exhibited in Italy for the first time.

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9. The Renaissance in Brescia. Moretto, Romanino, Savoldo. 1512-1552

Where and when: Brescia, Museo di Santa Giulia, Oct. 18, 2024 to Feb. 16, 2025

Brescia hosts a major exhibition dedicated to the Renaissance in the city that starts with a long series of questions. How did people live in the 16th century in one of the most populous cities of modern Europe? What feelings were stirring the souls? What fashions were in vogue? How was a city set on fire and flame, with what weapons? To what saints was one devoted? To whom was protection sought? How was one informed? How did one dress and how was one portrayed? How did one get married? What about the role of women? What books were read, what music was listened to? What was the relationship with nature and the ancient? What about love? And what side was death on? What made Brescian painting extraordinary? And what set it as the basis for Caravaggio’s artistic revolution? Who was Fortunato Martinengo? These are the questions that The Renaissance in Brescia seeks to answer. Moretto, Romanino, Savoldo. 1512-1552, the new exhibition by Fondazione Brescia Musei, curated by Roberta D’Adda, Filippo Piazza and Enrico Valseriati.

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10. Picasso at Palazzo Te. Poetry and Salvation.

Set up inside Palazzo Te in Mantua, the exhibition dedicated to the 20th-century master is curated by Annie Cohen-Solal in collaboration with Johan Popelard. It is produced by Fondazione Palazzo Te with the contribution of Fondazione Banca Agricola Mantovana, the support of Amici di Palazzo Te and Musei Mantovani, with the media partnership of Gruppo Editoriale Athesis, the technical support of Aermec, and in synergy with Mantova città d’arte e di cultura. The exhibition is in collaboration with Musée national Picasso-Paris and the artist’s family and is the main production of the 2024 cultural program dedicated to the theme of Metamorphosis, the relationship between Giulio Romano and Ovid’s poem that inspired the construction of Palazzo Te from 1525 to 1535.

Where and when: Mantua, Palazzo Te, from September 5, 2024 to January 6, 2025

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11. Marina Abramović. Between Breath and Fire

Where and when: Bergamo, Gres Art, Sept. 14 to Feb. 1, 2025

A major exhibition by Marina Abramović, featuring 30 recent and historical works, scheduled in Bergamo. It is being organized by the city’s new center for art and culture, gres art, which is hosting an exhibition dedicated to the Serbian artist, curated by Karol Winiarczyk, from Sept. 14, 2024, to Feb. 1, 2025. Entitled Between Breath and Fire, the exhibition aims to offer a journey into the greatness, solitude, myth and transience of the human being through the works of one of the most influential artists of our time.

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12. Etruscans. Artists and Craftsmen

Where and when: Bolzano, Trevi-Trevilab Center, Oct. 24, 2024 to Feb. 2, 2025

Curated by Maria Paola Guidobaldi and Valentina Belfiore and promoted by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano in collaboration with the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome, the exhibition is part of the second stage of the Storie dell’arte with the great museums series, a multi-year journey that aims to help people discover great ancient and modern civilizations. The exhibition is not intended to be a generic review of the Etruscans, but a specific investigation of their great civilization, that of the artistic and craft production that characterizes these ancient peoples.

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13. Matisse and the light of the Mediterranean

Where and when: Mestre, Candiani Cultural Center, September 28, 2024 to March 4, 2025

The new exhibition project conceived for the Candiani Cultural Center, which stems from the civic collections of modern art preserved at Ca’ Pesaro, enriched by prestigious international loans, is dedicated to another master of the 20th century avant-garde: Henri Matisse (Le Cateau-Cambrésis, 1869 - Nice, 1954). A master and progenitor of the Fauves, the beasts, the savages, Matisse entered into dialogue with artists with whom he shared biographical events and artistic revolutions; a painter of the joy of life, with strong, vivid colors and an interpreter of light: the center of Matisse’s research, the protagonist of color liberated from savage Expressionism.

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14. Fortunato Depero. Thirst for Futurism, Hunger for America.

Where and when: Verona, Stazione Frigorifera Specializzata, from September 25, 2024 to March 1, 2025

From September 25, 2024 to March 1, 2025, EARTH Foundation presents in the spaces of the Stazione Frigorifera Specializzata in Verona the exhibition Fortunato Depero. Thirsting for Futurism, Hunger for America, produced in collaboration with Mart, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, and the University of Verona - Department of Cultures and Civilizations, under the curatorship of Federico Zanoner and Luca Bochicchio. The exhibition aims to offer an in-depth analysis of the works of the celebrated painter, sculptor and designer Fortunato Depero. This project, which includes a wide selection of Futurist works housed at the Mart in Rovereto, explores the evolution of Depero’s artistic journey from the 1910s to the 1950s, with a particular focus on themes related to the table, food and places of consumption.

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15. Henri Cartier-Bresson and Italy

Where and when: Rovigo, Palazzo Roverella, Sept. 28, 2024 to Jan. 26, 2025

Palazzo Roverella in Rovigo is hosting the monographic exhibition on Henri Cartier-Bresson and Italy, curated by Clément Chéroux and Walter Guadagnini, promoted by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo with the Municipality of Rovigo and the Accademia dei Concordi, with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo; the exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris and the CAMERA Foundation - Italian Center for Photography in Turin. The exhibition, marked chronologically, is dedicated to the strong bond between the famous photographer and Italy, which for the first time is documented in depth through about 200 photographs and documents, including newspapers, magazines, volumes and letters. The stages of a relationship that began very early, as early as the 1930s, and continued until Cartier-Bresson abandoned photography in the 1970s will be retraced.

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16. The sixteenth century in Ferrara. Mazzolino, Ortolano, Garofalo, Dosso

Where and when: Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Oct. 12, 2024 to Feb. 16, 2025

In Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti is hosting a major new exhibition in the series dedicated to the Ferrara Renaissance. It is entitled The Sixteenth Century in Ferrara. Mazzolino, Ortolano, Garofalo, Dosso and is curated by Vittorio Sgarbi and Michele Danieli, under the direction of Pietro Di Natale. This event represents the second stage of a broader investigation launched last year as part of the program Renaissance in Ferrara. 1471-1598 from Borso to Alfonso II d’Este, which explores the period from the city’s promotion to a duchy until its passage under the control of the Papal States. The exhibition stands as a natural continuation of Renaissance in Ferrara. Ercole de’ Roberti and Lorenzo Costa (Feb. 18-June 19, 2023, our review here), recounting early 16th-century painting in Ferrara. This period spans the years of the transfer of power from Ercole I d’Este to his son Alfonso in 1505, until Alfonso’s death that occurred in 1534. Alfonso, a refined patron of the arts, renovated both the private spaces of the court and the public spaces of the city, facing the challenge of high artistic turnover after the passing of masters such as Cosmè Tura, Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de’ Roberti. Then, in 1496, Alfonso turned to Boccaccio Boccaccino, with a desire to follow a more modern, softer taste.

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17. Surrealism and Italy

Where and when: Mamiano di Traversetolo, Magnani-Rocca Foundation, Sept. 14 to Dec. 15, 2024

One hundred years ago Surrealism was born, changing the perception of the world forever. “Imagination is nothing but the revelation of what we are, of our own substance, which is dream, purity, energy, freedom,” wrote André Breton in his Manifeste du Surréalisme, published on Oct. 15, 1924, officially marking the start of this revolutionary movement. Thus, to commemorate this anniversary, starting Sept. 14 and running through Dec. 15, 2024, the Magnani-Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo, near Parma, Italy, will celebrate this decisive and long-lived 20th-century avant-garde with an exhibition that will take place take place in the evocative Villa dei Capolavori, just a few steps from the rooms that house works by masters such as Renoir, Monet, Cézanne, Titian, Dürer, Van Dyck, Goya, Canova, Morandi, Burri and many others.

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18. Ai Weiwei. Who am I?

Where and when: Bologna, Palazzo Fava, from September 21, 2024 to May 4, 2025

From September 21, 2024 to May 4, 2025, Palazzo Fava in Bologna is hosting a solo exhibition of Ai Weiwei, a renowned Chinese artist known for his commitment to the defense of human rights. The exhibition is promoted by Fondazione Carisbo as part of the cultural project Genus Bononiae, is produced by Opera Laboratori in collaboration with Galleria Continua, and is curated by Arturo Galansino. The title, inspired by a dialogue between the artist and artificial intelligence, is meant to reflect the essence of the exhibition at Palazzo Fava, which explores the creative world of Ai Weiwei. Indeed, the aim of the exhibition is to present the artist and his creative universe, in a continuous tension between tradition and experimentation, preservation and destruction.

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19. Psyche in the mirror. Omnia vincit amor

Where and when: Modena, BPER Banca Gallery, Sept. 13, 2024 to Feb. 9, 2025

The exhibition, curated by Daniela Ferrari, opens to the public on the occasion of festivalfilosophy and develops an exploratory path around the theme of the XXIV edition of the festival: “psyche.” The exhibition is proposed as a series of investigations into the nature of feelings through the mirror of myth and draws from the heritage held in BPER Banca’s corporate collection, presenting paintings by Francesco Albani and workshop, Sisto Badalocchio, Jean Boulanger, Lorenzo De Ferrari, Hendrik Frans Van Lint, Lorenzo Pasinelli, Giovanni Battista Paggi, and Guido Reni. The exhibition also includes etchings and aquatints by Max Klinger, oils on canvas by François Pascal Simon Gérard and Federico Zandomeneghi, and contemporary artworks by Andrea Facco, Omar Galliani, and Andrea Mastrovito.

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20. Bertozzi & Casoni. It is not what it seems

Where and when: Fontanellato, Labirinto della Masone, Oct. 12, 2024 to Feb. 16, 2025

The Labirinto della Masone in Fontanellato hosts the exhibition Bertozzi & Casoni. It’s Not What It Seems, curated by the Franco Maria Ricci Foundation and Bertozzi & Casoni, which through the works of artists Bertozzi & Casoni, known for their extraordinary technical and formal skills, will offer a reflection on contemporary society with an acute and original gaze. In particular, the theme of the corruption and decay of the natural environment due to human intervention and the potential for regeneration inherent in nature itself will be highlighted.

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21. BAJ. BajchezBaj

Where and when: Savona, Museum of Ceramics, Oct. 8, 2024 to Feb. 9, 2025

The Museum of Ceramics in Savona and MuDA - Museo Diffuso Albisola in Albissola Marina, in the venues of the Exhibition Center and Casa Museo Jorn, will host the exhibition BAJ. BajchezBaj, curated by Luca Bochicchio and the museums’ curators, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Enrico Baj, one of the most important protagonists of 20th-century Italian art. The exhibition will focus on Baj’s ceramic work in its historical and chronological development, with a thematic focus on the 1954 International Ceramics Meeting. The three venues will be like time capsules, reversing the historical path that saw Baj work with clay and glazes, beginning in Albisola in 1954 and arriving in Castellamonte in 1994, passing through Laveno in 1955 and then Imola and Faenza in the early 1980s and 1990s. Of great interest will be the exhibition of the first nuclear ceramics in the plastic and organic context of Casa Museo Jorn, where the metamorphosis of images and materials spontaneously recalls Baj’s poetics.

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22. Giorgio Vasari. The theater of virtues

Where and when: Arezzo, Municipal Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Oct. 30, 2024 to Feb. 2, 2025

A major international exhibition, curated by Cristina Acidini with the collaboration of Alessandra Baroni, as part of the palimpsest Arezzo. The City of Vasari, will see works from important international collections in Arezzo, with the aim of emphasizing the heritage of sacred and profane inventions put to good use by Vasari for the glory of Grand Duke Cosimo I, his protector from 1550 to his death. On display - following the theme of profane and sacred allegory - will be painted plates and drawings by Giorgio Vasari and contemporary artists and collaborators practicing the same line of expression, along with letters, manuscripts and printed volumes from the Vasari Archive. There will be no shortage of highly symbolic artifacts to represent the evocative potential of allegory, most notably the Chimera, an extraordinary Etruscan bronze found in Arezzo in 1535.

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23. Helen Frankenthaler. Painting Without Rules

Where and when: Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, September 27, 2024 to January 26, 2025

In Florence, Palazzo Strozzi is colored by the revolutionary art of Helen Frankenthaler, with the largest exhibition ever held in Italy dedicated to this important 20th-century American artist. The exhibition, titled Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules, offers, from September 27, 2024 to January 26, 2025, a wide selection of Frankenthaler’s works made between 1953 and 2002, from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation and loans from major museums and private collections. The artist’s works will be placed in dialogue with works by artists contemporary with her, including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell.

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24. Julio Le Parc. The discovery of perception. Works from 1958 to the present

Where and when: Siena, Palazzo delle Papesse, Sept. 13 to March 16, 2025

From September 13, Palazzo delle Papesse in Siena reopens to the public after years of closure, with the opening of the exhibition on Julio Le Parc, curated by Marcella Beccaria and open until March 16, 2025. This is the first major event the historic exhibition space will host since its reopening. Visitors will be able not only to explore the magnificent Renaissance palace, with its courtyard and panoramic terrace offering breathtaking views of Siena from the rooftop, but also to immerse themselves in the works of French-Argentinian artist Julio Le Parc, sculptor and painter, a leading figure in kinetic art and Op Art. Julio Le Parc’s works are exhibited in major museums and galleries around the world, and his influence on contemporary art is internationally recognized.

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25. Dino Ignani. 80’s Dark Rome

Where and when: Rome, Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Sept. 11 to Nov. 10, 2024

With the project “Dark portraits” by Dino Ignani, the Sovrintendenza Capitolina has obtained funding for the acquisition and production of contemporary artworks destined for the Italian public heritage. The result can be admired at the Museo di Roma in Trastevere, where the acquired nucleus with Ignani’s approximately 200 photographs will tell the public about the peculiarities of his photographic research, mainly focused on the culture of the 1980s, fashion and the look of the time. The photographer’s gaze produced a cycle of portraits dedicated to the young people who animated the clubs of the so-called dark scene in Rome, which Ignani documented by focusing on the classic black-and-white posed portrait.

Fall 2024 exhibitions, the 25 most anticipated, must-see

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