Due to reopen on the 19th (or 20th) of November 2010 (actually, the official date, writ large on the site, is December 6th) is the ‘Museo del Novecento’ in Milan, home to a very fine collection of twentieth-century art. The refurbishment (well, the gutting, frankly) of the building in Piazza Duomo has taken three years, but the results do look to be worth the wait.
The transformation of the Palazzo dell’Arengario into the Museo del Novecento, directed by Italo Rota and Fabio Fornasari, has the fundamental objective of creating a simple and linear museum system within a historical building, so as to optimize the use of available space and evoke a powerful and appealing image of the building and the new museum, thereby transforming it into one of Milan’s leading cultural centres.
The more than 400 pieces, many from private collections, will be displayed chronologically, and include works by Picasso, Modigliani, Klee, Braque, Marinetti and Fontana.