event
Thursday 1 January 1970

National Gallery of Modern Art & MAXXI The collections 1958 – 2008

Thursday 11 March 2010
Rome, National Gallery of Modern Art

Presentation of the catalogue National Gallery of Modern Art & MAXXI
The collections 1958 – 2008

edited by Stefania Frezzotti, Carolina Italiano and Angelaandreina Rorro

In the presence of the Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities Sandro Bondi

introduced by
Roberto Cecchi General secretary of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities
Mario Lolli Ghetti General Director of PaBAAC
Pio Baldi President of the MAXXI Foundation

speakers
Luca Massimo Barbero Director of MACRO
Gabriella Belli Director of MART
Silvia Bordini Lecturer in the history of contemporary art at La Sapienza University of Rome
Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli Superintendent of the National Gallery of Modern Art
Anna Mattirolo Director of MAXXI Art

The two-volume catalogue brings together the complete collection of contemporary art works acquired by the National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Museum of XXI Century Arts.

1,350 works, all reproduced in colour and almost all accompanied by a detailed description, represent the fruit of almost fifty years of public collecting aimed at conserving, documenting and presenting Italian and international art.

In particular, the recent MAXXI collection – launched in 2002 – comprises 299 works that are the fruit of acquisitions, commissions, thematic competitions, prizes, donations and loans. It includes pieces by Alighiero Boetti, Francesco Clemente, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Pennone, Cristiano Pintaldi, Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol and many others.

The catalogue has been conceived as an alphabetical compendium by artist, equipped with analytical and alphabetical indexes to aid research. A final series of entries is devoted to works that because of their specific nature (for example artist’s books) or their particular provenance (for example, naval furnishings) were worthy of treatment taking into account these differences.

Two introductory essays by Anna Mattirolo, director of MAXXI Art, and Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli, Superintendent of the National Gallery of Modern Art, provide the reader with the necessary critical support for a reconstruction of the historical-artistic scenario in relation to the two museums’ acquisition policy.