Collezione Roberto Casamonti - Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni

The Collection is located in Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni, in Florence, in a building that represents one of the Florentine architectural masterpieces of the 1500s. It exhibits works from the personal collection of Roberto Casamonti, internationally renowned gallery owner and great art expert, selected by Bruno Corà.

At the moment, we find a selection of about 80 works that tells the second Italian twentieth century, and beyond. An exhibition itinerary that covers from the 60s to the 21st century, namely the second part of the entire collection. Paintings and sculptures that reflect the collector's soul and his very personal "feeling". Which is not just any "feeling", since it is one of the protagonists of the world art market. A choice of authentic masterpieces that can be traced back to stories of friendships, acquaintances, partnerships, aspects never unrelated to the history of art and artists.

Since its opening in 2018, the direction of the Casamonti Collection has been entrusted to the art historian Sonia Zampini.

On display are, among others, works by Boetti, Pistoletto, Merz, Kounellis, Paolini, Calzolari, Penone and Pascali, "some of the most authoritative protagonists of that linguistic koiné called Arte Povera, which has come to the fore, as a shared movement by an adequate number of artists, starting from 1967. " The curator Bruno Corà tells us. "Of some of them Casamonti has acquired and destined for the Collection more than one work. This is the case of Pistoletto and above all of Boetti, who after Fontana is the artist to whom he has dedicated more energy, passion and attention ".

Among the most contemporary international presences, among which we remember Anselm Kiefer, Anish Kapoor, Tony Cragg, Keith Haring, Basquiat but also Marina Abramovich and Bill Viola.

"The twentieth century in art - adds Roberto Casamonti - was not a" short century ", as it is said to have been for the social phenomena that characterized it, but, on the contrary, a century full of tensions and ideas of language, moreover a memorable time for breaking down some barriers and blurring the boundaries between visual art, architecture, poetry, theater, design, cinema and other disciplines. It was a duty for me to take into account the phenomena that, in addition to having conquered me, also showed some primates of singularity that still have their weight in art. "