In accordance with the Articles of Incorporation, the Fondazione Lucio Fontana has since its inception been engaged in activities aimed at promoting and popularizing the work of Lucio Fontana.
Exhibitions have always been one of the most effective tools through which it has been possible to spread awareness of the artist throughout the world, as well as to increase the presence of his works in the collections of leading Italian and international institutions.
This commitment over the years has led to important projects in Italy as well as abroad. Among the many examples are: the major anthological exhibitions at Palazzo Reale in Milan (1972) and at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (1977), the traveling solo exhibition in Japan (1985-86), the exhibitions at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1987-88), and at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome (1998), the five exhibitions for the centenary of the artist’s birth organized in Milan (1999), the solo show at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, which later traveled to the Guggenheim in New York (2006-07), the retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2014), the exhibition dedicated to the “Spatial Environments” at Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan (2017-18), the exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum—The Met Breuer in New York and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (2019), the project at MaMM Moscow (2020), and the trilogy at various Hauser & Wirth Gallery venues (Los Angeles, New York, and Hong Kong, 2020-2025).
In addition to exhibitions, throughout its history, the foundation has been committed to supporting study and research projects dedicated to Lucio Fontana. This has involved both collecting and supporting proposals from individual scholars and by initiating its own research paths aimed at investigating and publicizing lesser-known aspects of the master’s artistic activity.
The desire to increase this activity in order to meet the needs of new audiences and a new geography of the artistic scene, led in 2021 to the expansion of the duties of the foundation’s Artistic Committee . This body is therefore also active today in carefully defining cultural programming that acts on various fronts and is activated in different ways: from scientific collaboration on projects organized at other institutions or conducted by third parties, to the promotion of its own publishing and exhibition initiatives, as well as study programs.
Lucio Fontana, installation view, Milan, Palazzo Reale, 1972
Lucio Fontana. 1899-1968: A retrospective, installation view, New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1977
Lucio Fontana, rétrospective, installation view, Paris, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 2014
Lucio Fontana: Walking the space; Spatial Environments 1948-1968, installation view, Los Angeles, Hauser & Wirth, 2020. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen