Italian
The focus of the exhibition is the décollage, the most radical gesture-symbol of Rotella. The tearing becomes an absolute and disruptive act, capable of opening new avenues to perception and redefining the relationship between art and life. As curator Alberto Fiz states, «what matters is no longer what is on the surface, but the fragmented and fragmented aspect of a real dimension destined to change under the knowing gaze of the observer».
On display at Palazzo Ducale are some of the artist’s most emblematic works, including Naturalistico (1953), a collage on canvas with mirrors and glass, The Tiger (1962), The Point and a Half (1963), among the first interventions in the advertising world, and Tender is the Night (1962), alongside a selection of works dedicated to his most famous icon, Marilyn Monroe. Among the later works, a large Untitled from the 1990s stands out, a décollage on three-meter sheet metal, and Attenti, the last major décollage created by the artist.
Always guided by a deep attention to the fragment, Rotella has transformed the tearing into an aesthetic and political gesture, into an act of revelation that lays bare the hidden truth behind the images of consumption. Alongside the décollage, the exhibition delves into his more experimental techniques – from artypo to effaçage, from frottage to emulsified canvases, from photographic transfers to extrusions – testifying to the variety and coherence of an extremely layered research, in which the artist positions himself as a clear witness of the technological revolution.
This desire to go beyond the surface, exploring matter in its deeper aspects, leads Rotella in the 1980s towards overpainting, in an autonomous dialogue with the return to painting that characterizes many European experiences, including Transavanguardia. Similarly, the artist does not shy away from engaging with graffiti, just as in the 1960s he was able to measure himself against Pop Art.
Set up in the rooms of the Loggia degli Abati, the exhibition is also enriched by archival materials and audiovisual documents that help create an immersive experience, capable of conveying the complexity of a central figure in the history of contemporary art.
Celebrating Mimmo Rotella twenty years after his passing means recognizing, even in the age of social media, the surprising relevance of his perspective and the strength of an art that continues to question us about the role of images, the fragility of memory, and the beauty of creative disorder.
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From April 24 to September 13, 2026, the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa will be the perfect stage to host a retrospective that promises an articulated, modern, and evocative language. Capable of providing an immersive and forward-thinking message
Twenty years after the passing of Mimmo Rotella (1918–2006), Palazzo Ducale in Genoa is dedicating a major retrospective to one of the absolute protagonists of Italian and international art of the twentieth century. The exhibition Mimmo Rotella. 1945–2005, curated by Alberto Fiz and realized in collaboration with the Mimmo Rotella Foundation and produced and organized by MetaMorfosi Eventi, traces over sixty years of the artist’s activity, reflecting the complexity and relevance of a research that has radically shaped the relationship between art, image, and contemporary society.
The exhibition analyzes the entire creative span of Rotella, from the early abstract experiments of the post-war period, influenced by surrealism, to the New Icons of recent years, created through collage and overpainting in which the media universe is once again subjected to a process of deconstruction and resignification. Over a hundred works from museums, foundations, and international public and private collections make up a journey divided into five thematic sections, allowing for the rediscovery of the innovative strength of a language capable, like few others, of narrating the birth and evolution of the image and consumption society.
The focus of the exhibition is the décollage, the most radical gesture-symbol of Rotella. The tearing becomes an absolute and disruptive act, capable of opening new avenues to perception and redefining the relationship between art and life. As curator Alberto Fiz states, «what matters is no longer what is on the surface, but the fragmented and fragmented aspect of a real dimension destined to change under the knowing gaze of the observer».
On display at Palazzo Ducale are some of the artist’s most emblematic works, including Naturalistico (1953), a collage on canvas with mirrors and glass, The Tiger (1962), The Point and a Half (1963), among the first interventions in the advertising world, and Tender is the Night (1962), alongside a selection of works dedicated to his most famous icon, Marilyn Monroe. Among the later works, a large Untitled from the 1990s stands out, a décollage on three-meter sheet metal, and Attenti, the last major décollage created by the artist.
Always guided by a deep attention to the fragment, Rotella has transformed the tearing into an aesthetic and political gesture, into an act of revelation that lays bare the hidden truth behind the images of consumption. Alongside the décollage, the exhibition delves into his more experimental techniques – from artypo to effaçage, from frottage to emulsified canvases, from photographic transfers to extrusions – testifying to the variety and coherence of an extremely layered research, in which the artist positions himself as a clear witness of the technological revolution.
This desire to go beyond the surface, exploring matter in its deeper aspects, leads Rotella in the 1980s towards overpainting, in an autonomous dialogue with the return to painting that characterizes many European experiences, including Transavanguardia. Similarly, the artist does not shy away from engaging with graffiti, just as in the 1960s he was able to measure himself against Pop Art.
Set up in the rooms of the Loggia degli Abati, the exhibition is also enriched by archival materials and audiovisual documents that help create an immersive experience, capable of conveying the complexity of a central figure in the history of contemporary art.
Celebrating Mimmo Rotella twenty years after his passing means recognizing, even in the age of social media, the surprising relevance of his perspective and the strength of an art that continues to question us about the role of images, the fragility of memory, and the beauty of creative disorder.
