Milan, Palazzo Reale pays tribute to Ugo Mulas with a dedicated retrospective

From Oct. 10, 2024 to Feb. 2, 2025, Milan ’s Palazzo Reale is hosting a retrospective dedicated to Ugo Mulas (Pozzolengo, 1928 - Milan, 1973), one of Milan’s most influential photographers. The exhibition Ugo Mulas. The Photographic Operation, one of the most comprehensive devoted to his work, presents an in-depth analysis of the artist’s oeuvre and is intended as a tribute to his figure. Organized by the City of Milan-Cultura and produced in collaboration with theUgo Mulas Archive, the exhibition is curated by Denis Curti and Alberto Salvadori, with the support of Deloitte and the Deloitte Foundation. It includes 300 photographs, many of them unpublished, along with documents, books and films, covering various aspects of his career, from theater to fashion, from portraits of international artists such as Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp, to shots of intellectuals and moments of cultural life. The title of the exhibition, The Photographic Operation, refers to one of his best-known series, the Verifications created between 1968 and 1972, which explore conceptual thinking about photography. For the first time, preparatory studies from Verifiche will be exhibited alongside the works, offering a new look at Mulas’ universe. The exhibition also includes portraits of key figures in 20th century design and architecture, such as Gae Aulenti and Ettore Sottsass, as well as a section devoted to Fausto Melotti, Mulas’ personal friend. Through 14 thematic chapters, visitors can discover a photographer who knew how to tell stories through his images, going beyond mere documentation to create a true visual narrative.

The photographer captured the essence of Milan in the second half of the 20th century, documenting the city’s cultural and social fervor, from the first shots of the Brera district to images of its suburbs. His work is presented as a cognitive operation, where each photograph is a piece of a larger mosaic, not a simple snapshot, but part of a critical and artistic discourse. In addition, the Ugo Mulas in the City initiative includes the exhibition of his works in various significant places in Milan, such as the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Museo del Novecento, creating an itinerary that celebrates his artistic impact. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Marsilio Arte, containing essays by the curators. The Milan retrospective is a follow-up to the project launched in Venice in 2023, presenting a new approach to Mulas’ life and work, enriched by never-before-seen photographs, for an intense and unprecedented discovery of his art.

“With this retrospective, Milan pays tribute not only to a great photographer, but also to a man who was able to capture and convey the soul of this ever-evolving city,” said Culture Councillor Tommaso Sacchi. “Ugo Mulas, in fact, will be permanently on display in the new itinerary of the Museo del Novecento, which we will inaugurate in the coming days, precisely because of his interpretation of the city’s artistic life in years that were fundamental for Milan: those of Bar Jamaica, Piero Manzoni and Luciano Bianciardi, Lucio Fontana and the Funerali del Nouveau Realisme. But that’s not all: other museums in the city will also host a selection of Mulas’ photographs, proposing an itinerary that will touch on the fundamental places of his life and works, thus continuing the journey outside the halls of Palazzo Reale.”

“Ugo Mulas. The Photographic Operation,” commented Marsilio Arte President Emanuela Bassetti, “fits into the Milanese exhibition scene for the careful study that has made possible one of the largest retrospectives on the figure of Mulas. Marsilio Arte, once again, collaborates with the City of Milan, of which it is an ongoing partner, to pay tribute to the city of Milan and its centrality in the professional career of the great Italian photographer.”

“Mulas’s photographic approach cannot be traced to a genre: he is not a documentary or even a portraitist. His is a critical photography, which studies and tries to explain-as a good critic does-to the observer what he is seeing. For this reason, his research cannot be categorized and his figure as a photographer cannot be circumscribed into a precise role. Ugo Mulas is a total photographer,” said Denis Curti.

“Ugo Mulas’ is an introspective work where the primary quest is the sense of the real as opposed to the sense of the exceptional. There is never a registered desire for the possession of the subject to be transformed into a symbolically possessed object. There is in Ugo Mulas no form of vanity. What really matters is not so much the privileged moment as identifying one’s own reality; after that, all moments more or less equal each other,” noted Alberto Salvadori.

“Deloitte, together with the Deloitte Foundation, chose to support this project because we firmly believe that photography constitutes a powerful means of artistic expression. The exhibition dedicated to Ugo Mulas not only pays homage to a great master of 20th century photography, but also offers an opportunity to highlight the cultural impact of his work, presenting portraits of female artists and extraordinary images of Milan,” commented Guido Borsani, president of Fondazione Deloitte.

Image: exhibition set-up. Photo: Giorgio Galimberti

Milan, Palazzo Reale pays tribute to Ugo Mulas with a dedicated retrospective

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