The importance of sculpture in artistic endeavour over the past two centuries, from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day, is represented by a great variety of works offering a vast overview of very different materials and forms of expression. Constantly in search of evocative ways of interacting with exhibition spaces, both indoor and outdoor, and with the paintings displayed on the walls, sculptures add life to all the halls and spaces in the museum, creating multiple exhibition routes accompanying visitors and inviting them to contemplate individual exemplary works or concentrate on particular themes or artists.
Beginning with Marco Pellizzola’s site-specific work – allowing us, even outside the museum, to read evocative aphorisms on sculpture in the ceramic mosaic of a starry sky surrounding the Garden – and continuing all the way from the garden to the final hall at the top of the museum, the entire MAGI exhibition route is therefore an invitation to a highly varied exploration of the plastic arts. Ever-new expressive solutions ranging from the academic tradition to experimentation with new high-tech materials and unexpected forms follow one upon another to offer an overview of artists and themes going back over the history of Italian art, on which there is a special focus, though the exhibition is international in breadth, featuring the work of artists from all continents.
The large number of artists represented include some who had a special relationship with Giulio Bargellini and even made works specifically for the collector or for the museum’s halls.
On the whole, the collection offers an enthralling experience, incorporating sounds and textures, glimpses of indoors and outdoors, and special encounters between works on miniature and monumental scales.
