An extensive and unprecedented exhibition dedicated to Doménikos Theotokópoulos, universally known as El Greco, one of the most famous painters of the late 16th - early 17th century, arrives in Milano.

The exhibition path at Palazzo Reale takes us through a labyrinth, a powerful metaphor for the artist’s life story and training. His itinerant existence took him to the main cultural capitals of the Mediterranean, and enabled himself as an artist to be shaped by the art of all the greatest masters: Michelangelo, Parmigianino, Correggio, Titian and Tintoretto.

More than 40 works on display comprise well-known masterpieces such as the Laocoön from the National Gallery in Washington and the Portrait of Jeronimo De Cevallos from the Prado Museum, as well as artworks from ecclesiastical institutions which are on loan to Italy for the first time.

Palazzo Reale

From € 10 to € 15

How to get there: red line M1 and yellow line M3 Duomo subway stop

Treat yourself to an extraordinary journey into the beauty of humanity through 65 large-scale images by Jimmy Nelson, one of the most captivating and important photographers of our century, thanks to the Humanity exhibition at Palazzo Reale.

Nelson has dedicated his life to photographing some of the most endangered indigenous cultures, traveling for months on end in search of his own identity as part of the universal family of humans.

His photos reveal the stories of these humans, their emotions and the traditional habits and customs that have been preserved despite the global transformations which have brought them ever closer to extinction.

Palazzo Reale

From € 13 to € 17

How to get there: red line M1 subway and yellow line M3 Duomo stop

Pirelli Hangar Bicocca is always a fascinating venue for discovering the greatest artists of contemporary art. In this festive period, we suggest a visit to the exhibition dedicated to James Lee Byars, the American artist who passed away in 1997, and who greatly influenced the young artists who came after him.

The exhibition is the first retrospective dedicated to the artist in Italy, and is also very special because it was organized by Vincente Todolí, a friend of Byars, as well as director of Hangar Bicocca. 

Byars' works are a combination of conceptual art, installation and performance art, and they are created from very different materials, such as crystal, velvet, silk, paper, film and even gold leaf. His love for Japanese culture also influenced all of his art, adding elements of Noh theatre and Zen Buddhism alongside Western art and philosophy.

A world waiting to be discovered.

Pirelli Hangar Bicocca

Free entry

How to get there: Lilac metro line M5, Ponale stop then bus 51 (direction Cimiano M2) Via Chiese – Hangar Bicocca stop

Fernando Botero was one of the great masters of contemporary art. Painter, sculptor and designer, his unmistakable signature style depicting figures in large, exaggerated volume are familiar to everyone, even those who are not so knowledgeable about art.

The Via Crucis exhibition at the Museo della Permanente from November 23rd, 2023 to February 4th, 2024 is the first posthumous exhibition since the artist's death on September 15th, 2023 and, therefore, an unmissable event.

The Via Crucis series, with 60 works comprising oils and drawings on paper, reveals the artist's relationship with the eternal life and religion, which perhaps also derives from his childhood spent amongst devotional images rooted in the culture of Colombia.

The exhibition will invite you to reflect on the poetry, drama and power represented by the Passion of Christ.

Museo della Permanente

From € 11.50 to € 19.50

How to get there: yellow metro line M3, Turati stop

What is the link between artificial intelligence and power? How are power and technology linked from 1500 to today? The exhibition created by Kate Crawford, one of the leading international researchers on artificial intelligence, and Vladan Joler - academic, researcher and artist - aims to help us understand the current AI landscape by questioning how we got here and where we could be going.

These systems have already demonstrated their ability to concentrate power, produce 'collective hallucinations' and large-scale disinformation, calling into question the perception of a shared reality. Generative AI also has a significant impact on our ecologies, requiring immense quantities of energy, water and minerals.

The almost 24-meter-long visual narrative of the maps and materials created for the exhibition helps us enter this world, from the great revolution of Gutenberg's typographical invention, which changed the method and capacity of exchanging information, to the future that awaits us.
An exhibition to better understand our past, present and future.

Osservatorio Fondazione Prada in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

From € 8 to € 10

How to get there: red line M1 and yellow line M3 Duomo subway stop

From December 5th, 2023 to January 14th, 2024, the Sala Alessi will be adorned with a festive atmosphere thanks to Perugino’s The Baptism of Christ, an art masterpiece - framed by a scenographic eco-sustainable and 100% recyclable installation dedicated to water - that offers a unique visual experience.

Following a well-established yearly tradition, admission to the exhibition is free, and guided tours by art historians enable visitors to completely immerse themselves in the world of Renaissance art and Perugino’s work in the year that commemorates the 500th anniversary of his death.

Palazzo Marino - Sala Alessi

Free entry

How to get there: red line M1 and yellow line M3 Duomo subway stop; tram Line 1 Teatro alla Scala stop, and bus lines 2, 3, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19 Duomo stop

A miniature pictorial cycle: this is how this year’s Masterpiece for Milano can be defined as it arrives, as per tradition, at the Diocesan Museum for the Christmas period. 

Painted by Beato Angelico between 1450 and 1452, the complex work is one of the doors of the Armadio degli Argenti (Wardrobe of the Silversmiths) originating from the Santissima Annunziata church which housed the precious donations from the devout faithful of Florence to honour the Virgin.

The nine scenes of Christ's childhood depicted range from the Annunciation to the Dispute Among the Doctors, preceded by the marvellous wheel of the Vision of Ezekiel, which constitutes the introduction to the stories.

Angelico is renowned as one of the greatest 15th century artists; the preliminary rooms in this exhibition present in-depth details of the work, and they are also curated to create a sense of wonder in the presence of such beauty. 

Museo Diocesano

Entrance ticket to the Museum € 9

CLOSED December 25th and 26th, January 1st

How to get there: trams 2, 3, 14; bus 94

Discovering the hidden faces of the artist much loved and known by all: Van Gogh.

The exhibition at the Mudec - Museum of Cultures, Vincent Van Gogh. Cultured painter, from September 21st, 2023 to January 28th, 2024 presents 90 artworks that narrate the story of some of the artist’s lesser-known aspects.

Van Gogh was the painter we all know, but he was also an extremely erudite intellectual who was well-educated on the cultural debate of his time: a passionate reader and collector of prints, as well as an attentive observer of the most current artistic trends. The exhibition narrates this side of the artist, highlighting the books he much admired and his love for Japan.

Visitors can pause to admire masterpieces such as Landscape with Wheat Sheaves and Rising Moon, Le Moulin de la Galette and The Ravine, painted when the artist was interned in the Saint-Rémy hospital.

Alongside the works from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, throughout the exhibition visitors will be able to browse the period books and art magazines that Van Gogh always read and kept to hand.

Mudec – Museo delle Culture

From € 10 - € 16

How to get there: green line M2 S. Agostino stop; tram 14 Piazza del Rosario stop; bus 68, 90/91

Sebastião Salgado spent seven years totally immersed in the territories and the soul of the Brazilian Amazon; the evocative images which we can now admire in the exhibition at the Fabbrica del Vapore are the fruits of this incredible expedition.

The rainforest, rivers, mountains and indigenous peoples are depicted in over 200 works on display; the images interact with the realistic sounds of the environment through the sound landscape created by Jean-Michel Jarre.

Thanks also to Salgado we can learn about the Awá-Guajá tribe; with only 450 members they are considered the most highly endangered community on the planet. Or the Yawanawá who, on the verge of extinction, have regained control of their tribal lands and are thriving and reviving their culture. Then there are the Korubo, one of the tribes with the least external contact.

By drawing attention to the incomparable beauty of this region and the fragility of its ecosystem, Salgado invites us to reflect on the current ecological situation and the relationship that humans have with it today.

Fabbrica del Vapore

From € 7 to € 16

How to get there: Lilac line M5 Monumentale or Cenisio subway stop; tram 14, 12, 10 Bramante – Monumentale – Procaccini stops