Must-see exhibitions for winter

From Picasso and Munch to Tim Burton

From
To

To illuminate Christmas and the festive winter season, we have prepared a selection of exhibitions to see in Milano. From Picasso, Munch and Dubuffet to the contemporary art of Saodat Ismailova at the Pirelli HangarBicocca along with the fantastical world of Tim Burton at the Fabbrica del Vapore, comprising the exhibitions at the Triennale.

 

Here you can find all the info on what not to miss this winter.

Federico Barocci's Madonna of San Simone at Palazzo Marino

Palazzo Marino – From December 4th to January 12th, 2025

From December 4th, to January 12th, 2025, the Sala Alessi will be adorned with a festive atmosphere thanks to Federico Barocci’s Madonna with Child and Saints Simon and Jude, known as The Madonna of San Simone - framed by a scenographic installation illustrated by Carlo Scarpa - 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 the work of Barocci, heir to Raphael's classicism.

 

Palazzo Marino - Sala Alessi

Free entry

Open every day from 09:30 to 20:00 (last admission 30 mins before closing).

Early closings – late openings

December 7th closing at 12:00 (last admission at 11:30).

December 24th and 31st closing at 18:00 (last admission 30 mins hour before closing).

Holidays

December, 8th, 26th, 2024 and January 1st and 6th, 2025 from 09:30 to 20:00 (last admission at 19:30).

December 25th from 14:30 to 18:30 (last admission 30 mins before closing).

 

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

Picasso lo straniero - Picasso the foreigner

Palazzo Reale - From September 20th, 2024 to February 2nd 2025

It was already one of the must-see exhibitions in the autumn, but even in the winter period it remains one of the must-visit exhibitions.

 

Picasso the Foreignerfrom September 20th, 2024 to February 2nd 2025 at Palazzo Reale, investigates a yet unstudied aspect of the artist's life and production: the unease of being a foreigner and not being accepted in France, his adopted land. 

 

Born in Malaga, Spain in 1881, Picasso settled in Paris in 1904, becoming one of the most important artists of the century. He never obtained French citizenship and, as a foreigner, he experienced endless difficulties, such as being monitored by the police because he was registered as an anarchist, and being obliged to present himself to the authorities every two years to provide his fingerprints.

 

Over 80 works are on display, together with documents, letters, photographs and videos that make us reflect on the themes of welcome, immigration and relationships with others. Being ‘the foreigner’ shaped Picasso's identity, and forces us to reflect on the realities of today's world.

 

Palazzo Reale

From €13 to €17

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

MUNCH. The Inner Cry

Palazzo Reale - From September 14th, 2024 to January 26th, 2025

For many he is one of the founding fathers of modern painting, widely admired as the author of one of the most famous works in the world that is so well-known as to be reproduced in Lego: The Scream. He is Munch, the Norwegian painter who managed to represent human unease with his art.

 

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of his demise, Palazzo Reale dedicates the Munch. The Inner Cry exhibition to the artist, from September 14th, 2024 to January 26th, 2025Over 100 masterpieces from the Munch Museum in Oslo lead us on a journey through his art which conveys sensations and feelings, also the result of the knowledge of the psychological studies that were gaining traction at the time. 

 

The anxiety, inner loneliness and mal de vivre become almost palpable in his gazeless figures, in the fragile and symbolic landscapes, in the sound waves of the scream that become brushstrokes of colour around a deformed face. The exhibition invites us to discover the artist’s personal life and the various phases of his career, to get to know one of the fathers of Expressionism more profoundly. 

 

Palazzo Reale

From € 13 to € 17

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

DUBUFFET AND ART BRUT - Outsider Art

Mudec Museum of Cultures - From October 12th, 2024 to February 16th, 2025

What kind of art can be called ‘art brut’, i.e. "ugly art"? Defined by French artist Jean Dubuffet, it was a genre that was to become a post-war movement and vison that that has inspired many contemporary artists and which continues to be vital today.

 

Dubuffet's art is not ‘ugly’ only in the sense that it wants to break the canons of traditional art, but because it wants to be raw, pure and unfiltered. The artist met hundreds of patients hospitalized in mental institutions to learn about the artistic expression that emerged from their painful life experiences, but which expressed an imaginary world: an art that breaks ties with reality.

 

Even children's artworks became the basis for Dubuffet's art. Art Brut represented a chaotic, hypnotic language, with vibrant colours and unexpected expressions, characterized by a simple and primitive style

 

The exhibition at MUDEC from October 12th, 2024 to February 16th, 2025 presents the full power of this artistic expression, with works and documents that place the invention of the Art Brut concept in a historical perspective, relative to Dubuffet’s oeuvres. 

 

A set of works from five continents is related to the themes of the body and beliefs, both recurring themes in Art Brut. Due to their subjects and origins, these works and these authors resonate closely with Mudec's collections, which are testimony to different global cultures.

 

The numerous artworks on display narrate this journey of Art Brut, which has inspired artists such as Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat.

 

Mudec – Museum of Cultures

From € 8 to € 16

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

Marcello Maloberti. Metal Panic

PAC Contemporary Art Pavilion - From November 27th, 2024 to February 9th, 2025

‘I like angry art. Art that always wants to question the world’. The exhibition at the PAC Contemporary Art Pavilion, from November 27th, 2024 to February 9th, 2025, retraces the entire oeuvre of Marcello Maloberti, the contemporary artist who has long presented his works in the most prestigious global galleries.

 

The exhibition is a dedication to Milano, Maloberti’s declaration of love to the city and its inhabitants, a place full of history that has accompanied him in building his career.

 

The works narrate his entire production, emphasising the theme of sacredness and the spiritual element, in constant reference to everyday life, and to the elevation of the written word in the form of poetry. The installations have been specifically designed to dialogue with the PAC internal and external spaces, creating an itinerary to discover the power of words and encounters.

Because, as Maloberti himself says, “I believe strongly in encounters with others. THE ARTIST IS THE SPACE OF ENCOUNTER”. So, let’s be prepared for this encounter with the artist, but also with ourselves.

 

PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea

From € 4 to € 8

How to get there: Red subway line M1, stop: Palestro and yellow line M3, stop: Turati; Bus 61, 94; tram 1

Tim Burton's Labyrinth

Fabbrica del Vapore – From December 13th, 2024 to March 9th, 2025

What would it be like to enter the amazing mind of Tim Burton, film director famous for his bizarre stories and iconic visual aesthetics? Tim Burton himself shows us with his Labyrinth exhibition, at Fabbrica del Vapore from December 13th 2024 to March 9th, 2025.

 

Unsurprisingly, the exhibition is structured as a labyrinth: just choose which door to open and experience the adventure that awaits you! You never know what you might find: will it be the characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas, the magical forests of Corpse Bride, the weird machines of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the incredible worlds of Alice in Wonderland or the sets of Beetlejuice?

 

Take a close-up look at original works of art, and immerse yourself in the distinctive lights, sounds and sets of his films.

It's up to you to choose which doors to open. Are you ready?

 

Fabbrica del Vapore

From € 16 to € 18. Premium ticket € 28

How to get there: Lilac subway line M5, stops: Monumentale or Cenisio; tram 10, 12, 14.

Alberto Martini: The Dance of Death

Castello Sforzesco, Salette della Grafica - from October 2nd, 2024 to January 19th, 2025

Alberto Martini is one of the most prominent Italian illustrators of the 20th century. Renowned for his precise and refined inkwork, his art delves deep into his noir and profoundly esoteric imagination. 

Throughout his career, he created illustrations for publications by Dante Alighieri, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, William Shakespeare and, above all, Edgar Allan Poe. Skeletons, monsters, huge apes, ravens and skulls constitute his favourite themes. 

 

The exhibition Alberto Martini: la danza macabra - The Dance of Death at Castello Sforzesco, will be open until January 19th in the Salette della Grafica. It marks the 70th anniversary of his demise by exploring his use of the allegory of death, a theme central to so many of his most significant works. Among these is L’Albo della morte (1894–1896), an exceptional series of drawings clearly inspired by Nordic art and the famous European Macabre Dance postcards, published by Longo in Treviso during World War I.

 

Alongside Martini's works, the exhibition features examples of European graphic art from the Castello's collections.

 

Free entry from Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 – 17:30 (last entry at 17:00).

 

Castello Sforzesco

How to get there: Metro Line M1 (red) – stops Cairoli and Cadorna-Triennale; Metro Line M2 (green) – stops Cadorna-Triennale and Lanza; tram 1, 2, 4, 12, 14, 27; bus 50, 57, 58, 61, 94

Baj chez Baj

Palazzo Reale - from October 8th, 2024 to February 9th, 2025

The Baj chez Baj exhibition at Palazzo Reale celebrates Enrico Baj, a master of the neo-avant-garde, marking the 100th anniversary of his birth. 

 

More than 50 works, spanning from the early 1950s to the early 2000s, showcase Baj’s artistic evolution as he engaged with various artistic movements. Iconic characters that have since entered into the collective consciousness, such as his Ladies and Generals, Ultrabodies, Mirrors, Furniture and Monsters of the Apocalypse, will be on display.

 

This surrealist and science fiction-like universe aims to dismantle bourgeois conformity and oppose all forms of established power through irony and grotesque imagery.

 

One of Baj’s most famous works, The Funeral of the Anarchist Pinelli, will be on display for the first time in 12 years. After the exhibition, it will become part of the permanent collection at the newly reopened section of the Museo del Novecento.

 

Palazzo Reale

€10 – €17

How to get there: metro Line M1 (red) and M3 (yellow) – stop Duomo

Amano Corpus Animae

Fabbrica del Vapore - from November 14th, 2024 to March 1st, 2025

Yoshitaka Amano may not be a household name for those unfamiliar with manga, but he is a globally renowned Japanese artist, character designer and illustrator, as well as a theatrical and film costume designer.

 

Amano has created iconic characters such as Gatchaman, Tekkaman: The Space Knight, Hutch the Honeybee and Casshan. He has also worked on bestselling novels such as The Guin Saga and Vampire Hunter D, illustrated the popular video game Final Fantasy, and won the Bram Stoker Award for his collaboration with Neil Gaiman on Sandman. Additionally, he has produced illustration work for Vogue.

 

What is fascinating about this artist is his capacity to merge anime, video games and contemporary art into a single, inimitable artistic vision.

 

The Amano Corpus Animae exhibition at Fabbrica del Vapore, a spin-off from Lucca Comics & Games, showcases over 130 pieces from his Tokyo studios. It unites different generations through artwork, objects and videos, revealing Amano’s techniques, visions, and iconic works now ingrained in collective memory.

 

Fabbrica del Vapore

€5 – €16

How to get there: metro Line M2 (green) – stop Garibaldi; Metro Line M5 (purple) – stop Cenisio

Niki De Saint Phalle

Mudec Museum of Cultures - From October 5th, 2024 to February 16th , 2025

Enter the colourful and fascinating world of Niki De Saint Phalle, the French-American artist, famous in Italy above all for the Tarot Garden open-air museum between Garavicchio and Capalbio in Tuscany.

 

The 110 works on display at Mudec - Museum of Cultures from October 5th 2024 to February 16th, 2025 narrate her artistic life, from her beginnings to latest works, in a journey that revisits the ‘destructive’ works created to exorcise the demons of childhood, combined with the colours and materials through which she expressed her identity, her femininity, sensuality and love for life as creation.

 

The famous Nanas, rounded, colourful and polymorphic female figures that attract attention in collections all over the world, are on display alongside an elegant selection of clothes from the Maison Dior, which recall her past as a model portrayed in the beautiful photographic shots, which at the same time narrate a very “pop” personal vision of art. Painter, sculptor, author of experimental films with a zest for life, Niki De Saint Phalle is a multifaceted artist to be discovered. 

 

A large monumental work welcomes visitors on the exterior, acting as a door that leads into this fantastic world full of ideas and significance. 

 

Mudec - Museum of Cultures

From € 8 to € 16

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

Ugo Mulas. The Photographic Operation

Palazzo Reale - From October 10th, 2024 to February 2nd, 2025

Ugo Mulas, one of the most important photographers of the post-World War II period, captured images that gifted his audience a critical testimony of contemporary society.

 

Commencing from Brera, the artists' district of Milano, his camera immortalized the greatest 20th-century artists such as Max Ernst, Giacometti, Mirò, Morandi, Pasolini, up to the great Americans Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper John and Robert Rauschenberg.

 

He dedicated an entire collection to Eugenio Montale's Ossi di seppia (Cuttlefish Bones) creating an evocative photo for each poem, even surprising Montale himself with his ability to grasp the essence of each composition.

 

The over 300 photographs on display narrate Mulas' entire career, including his work in fashion with Mila Schön, the world of theatre with Strehler, the story of industry with his work on Olivetti, Pirelli, Bormioli, and the Italian economic boom.

 

Explore the history of the last century through the eyes of a unique photographer.

 

Palazzo Reale

From € 13 to € 17

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

BOTTICELLI. Adoration of the Magi

Museo Diocesano - from October 29th, 2024 to February 2nd, 2025

Every year, the Museo Diocesano presents the city with a special exhibition dedicated to a masterpiece from major museums, titled Un Capolavoro per Milano - A Masterpiece for Milano

This year features one of the luminaries of the Renaissance: Sandro Botticelli. The Adoration of the Magi is on loan from the Uffizi Gallery for a unique exhibition, enhanced by a scenographic introductory section that enables visitors to delve deeply into this timeless masterpiece. 

 

Commissioned by the businessman Gasparre del Lama, around 1475, for the Chapel of the Magi in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, the painting depicts the episode of the Magi paying homage to Christ the Child, shown here at the centre of the composition in Mary’s arms.

The subject is linked to the name of the patron, Gasparre, like the youngest of the Magi, and serves as a tribute to the Medici family, dedicated patrons of the Compagnia dei Magi at San Marco.

 

The centrally-placed stable is surrounded by numerous figures in various poses and expressions. Amongst them are portraits of members of the Medici family, as well as the patron himself - depicted as the elderly man in a blue mantle on the right - and Botticelli himself, who includes his self-portrait as the blond youth on the right, gazing directly at the viewer.

 

A timeless masterpiece and one of the most significant works of Italian Renaissance art, celebrating Christmas through the fusion of beauty and history. On display until February 2nd, 2025.

 

Museo Diocesano

€7 – €9

Closed on December 25th, December 26th, January 1st

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

SAODAT ISMAILOVA. A Seed Under Our Tongue

Pirelli HangarBicocca – From September 12th, 2024 to January 12th, 2025

Saodat Ismailova (1981 Tashkent, Uzbekistan) is a filmmaker from the first post-Soviet generation of Central Asian artists. She lives between Paris and Tashkent and, in her films and installations, she explores the collective memory, rituals and spiritual traditions of her homeland, addressing issues such as cultural heritage, the role of women and the human impact on the environment.

 

Her work is distinguished by the use of dilated time and images that evoke slow cinema, often combining archive footage installed within textile sculptural elements. Her works create hypnotic narratives that layer cinema, sound and visual art.

Inspired by her family’s spiritual and intellectual roots, she weaves together myths and personal stories to address social issues such as women’s emancipation and identity.

 

SAODAT ISMAILOVA. A Seed Under Our Tongue at Pirelli HangarBicocca until January 12th, 2025 is the first major exhibition of her work in Italy, featuring over a decade of her career in a new environment created specifically for her art. She offers visitors a dreamlike experience, exploring the complex and layered histories of Central Asia, at the border between Western and Eastern cultures.

 

The title A Seed Under Our Tongue refers to the new works on display, including the newly-edited film Arslanbob (2023-24) and the associated sculptures, the golden seed of Amanat (2024) and the resin cast of a cave in The Mountain Our Bodies Emptied (2024). Inspired by a local myth – about a date seed hidden under the tongue that is passed down through different eras and people until it itself is transformed – the exhibition brings together twelve works, six films and seven sculptures, which explore the concept of transmission and the idea, in the artist’s words, ‘that we are responsible for the seven generations that came before us and the seven that will come after us.’

 

Pirelli HangarBicocca

Free entry

How to get there: Lilac subway line M5; stop fermata Ponale then bus 51 (Direction Cimiano M2) to Via Chiese – HangarBicocca

Gae Aulenti (1927-2012)

Triennale Milano - Until January 12th, 2025

Tucked between the skyscrapers and the old Isola district, one of the most famous piazzas in Milano in the heart of the Porta Nuova district is dedicated to Gaetana Emilia Aulenti, aka Gae Aulenti. One of the most important figures in the world of design and architecture in the late 20th century and early 2000s.

As the artist herself said, she was not a specialist in any discipline but shifted effortlessly from one to another, always integrating and achieving excellent results: design, architecture, theatre, interior design, graphics are just some of her creative spheres.

 

We are indebted to her for Piazzale Cadorna in Milano with its red columns in front of the railway station and the distinctive Ago, filo e nodo (Needle, Thread and Knot) sculpture commissioned for the occasion. Also, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, for which she transformed the old station into one of the most famous museums in the world. She was also commissioned with the new layout of Palazzo Grassi in Venice.

 

Not forgetting her design objects, such as the Bat Lamp or the Table with Wheels, the theatrical installations for Luca Ronconi and the showrooms for famous brands such as Olivetti.

 

The exhibition at the Triennale Milano, open until January 12th, 2025, narrates the story of her entire career, represented in 1:1 scale reproductions, thanks to the original materials preserved in the architect's Milanese archive, comprising drawings, photographs and models.

 

Discover her personal way of seeing, imagining and designing the reality that marked the late-twentieth century.

 

Triennale Milano

From € 7,50 to € 15. A day ticket is available for visiting all the exhibitions at the Triennale Milano (€ 25)

How to get there: Red subway line M1 and green M2, stop: Cadorna-Triennale; trams 1, 10; bus 85

Elio Fiorucci

Triennale Milano – From November 6th, 2024 to March 16th, 2025

Italian designer Elio Fiorucci transformed shop display windows into stages and shops into concept stores where, in addition to buying clothes, you could listen to music, flick through international magazines, discover and objects from all over the world and admire contemporary art. He revolutionized Italian fashion by placing it on the innovative international scene, anticipating trends that would later become mainstream, such as fitted jeans styled from a blend of stretch Lycra and denim.

 

Andy Warhol chose the Fiorucci store on 57th Street in New York to launch the Interview magazine, definitively consecrating the venue as ‘the place to be’, almost like a ‘daytime Studio 54’ which was a magnet for intellectuals, performers and artists.

 

The exhibition dedicated to Elio Fiorucci at Triennale Milano from November 6th, 2024 to March 16th, 2025 interlaces fashion and architecture, design and music, art and entertainment to discover (or rediscover) ‘the Duchamp of Italian fashion’, as defined by the critic Gillo Dorfles.

 

Triennale Milano

How to get there: Red subway line M1 and Green M2, stop: Cadorna-Triennale; tram 1, 10; bus 85

Meriem Bennani. For My Best Family

Fondazione Prada - From October 31st, 2024 to February 24th, 2025

A highly-anticipated project arrives at Fondazione Prada this autumn: from October 31st the Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani will present For My Best Family, a new commission, composed of a large mechanical installation and an unreleased animated film.

 

The installation Sole Crushing animates hundreds of flip flops in a chaotic ‘ballet’, a hypnotic display of movement and sound. It is intended to represent a metaphor for the complexity and interconnectedness of our contemporary world, highlighting the often-overlooked emotional narratives embedded in everyday objects.

 

The original feature film For Aicha, directed by Orian Barki and produced by John Michael Boling and Jason Coombs, is set in a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, and is suspended between realism, autobiography and fiction. Bennani accordingly weaves together elements of her personal experiences with broader cultural and political themes, bridging the individual and the universal, and she invites viewers to reflect on their own position within society.

 

Prada Foundation

From € 7,50 to € 15

How to get there: subway line M3 Lodi T.I.B.B. stop; tram 24; bus 65