In art, a “citation” involves reimagining motifs, themes, and elements from earlier works—a resonance that is rarely literal, yet always unmistakable. In fact, much of art history unfolds as a continuous narrative of citations—evolving from ancient imagery through a dynamic interplay of references and lively dialogues.

From Painting to Painting. The art of citation explores this rich and fascinating web of reinterpretations. The exhibition unfolds in eight sections, starting off minimal and conceptual before becoming more colourful, vivid, and pop-inspired: Vis à vis, The Copy, Paintings within Paintings, Marks, D’après, The Morandi Case, Covers (the largest section, bridging to contemporary art), and Avida Dollars. Featuring 150 works from the Mart Collections and key public and private lenders, and nearly 80 artists, the exhibition is structured around the idea that art history is a captivating sequence of ‘covers’: forms and themes from the past travel through time, constantly being reimagined.

From the close dialogue between early twentieth-century masters and the ancients—seen in Giorgio de Chirico’s copy after Raphael or Virgilio Guidi’s copy after Correggio—to the device of the “painting within the painting,” the exhibition reveals how the artist’s studio has always been a place for reflection and paying tribute to great models.

Painters such as Felice Casorati, Filippo de Pisis, and Renato Guttuso include explicit references to masterpieces of the past or to their own works, transforming the painted surface into a complex layering of visual memories.

With the advent of photography and later pop culture, the concept of technical reproducibility, as analysed by Walter Benjamin, is amplified, undermining the traditional idea of the artwork’s uniqueness. The exhibition highlights this crucial shift through the works of contemporary artists such as Giulio Paolini, Luigi Ontani, and Francesco Vezzoli, whose research is based on appropriation and the ironic play of identification with the masters of the past.

The exhibition finally moves into the present, exploring the languages of mass media. Here, timeless images such as the Mona Lisa or iconic Venuses give way to or blend with cinematic myths, or are swept up in the forces of mass consumption and production, tracing a path from Andy Warhol’s pop revolution to Piero Manzoni’s conceptual provocations.

Amidst digital reinterpretations, visual puns, and reflections on the commodification of beauty, the exhibition encourages visitors not only to question what they see, but also how they see, and, above all, to consider the very power of looking.

This project invites visitors into a hall of mirrors that sparks curiosity and engagement, encouraging everyone to look for connections—some obvious, others more subtle. The environment awakens our visual memory and invites us to notice echoes of the past, not only in the works of early twentieth-century artists who looked back to the old Masters (like Giorgio de Chirico, Achille Funi, Felice Casorati), but also in those of key artists from the late twentieth century (such as Mario Schifano, Giulio Paolini, Andy Warhol) and today’s leading figures (Francesco Vezzoli, Vik Muniz, Ai Weiwei).

 

All the artists on display
Stefano Arienti, Giacomo Balla, Paolo Baratella, Mary Ellen Bartley, Mirella Bentivoglio, Carlo Benvenuto, Gianni Bertini, Bertozzi & Casoni, Mariella Bettineschi, Mike Bidlo, Umberto Boccioni, Niccolò Boldrini, Giulio Bonasone, Pompeo Borra, Corrado Cagli, Chiara Calore, Massimo Campigli, Agostino Carracci, Felice Casorati, Mario Ceroli, Vittoria Chierici, Luca Coser, Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Filippo de Pisis, Bruno Di Bello, Andrea Facco, Flavio Favelli, Tano Festa, Giosetta Fioroni, Andrea Francolino, Achille Funi, Omar Galliani, Giorgio Ghisi, Virgilio Guidi, Renato Guttuso, Alain Jacquet, Jiří Kolář, Ketty La Rocca, Maria Lai, Roy Lichtenstein, Mario Mafai, Piero Manzoni, Lucia Marcucci, Arnold Mario Dall’O, Gino Marotta, Nino Migliori, Rolando Mignani, Aldo Mondino, Giorgio Morandi, Vik Muniz, Ugo Nespolo, Anna Oberto, Luigi Ontani, Luciano Ori, Giulio Paolini, Claudio Parmiggiani, Carlo Pasini, Luca Maria Patella, Lamberto Pignotti, Fausto Pirandello, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Décio Pignatari, Piero Pizzi Cannella, Concetto Pozzati, Marcantonio Raimondi, David Reimondo, Mimmo Rotella, Salvo, Sarenco, Mario Schifano, Gregorio Sciltian, Gino Severini, Emilio Tadini, Armando Testa, Francesco Vezzoli, Andy Warhol, Ai Weiwei.

 

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