From November 30, 2025 to April 12, 2026, the MA*GA Museum in Gallarate (VA) hosts “Kandinsky and Italy”, a major exhibition dedicated to Wassily Kandinsky, one of the pioneers of abstract art, and his deep relationship with the Italian art scene of the twentieth century.
Curated by Elisabetta Barisoni and Emma Zanella, the exhibition is designed and created by the MA*GA Museum in collaboration with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia – International Gallery of Modern Art of Ca’ Pesaro. Through an exhibition itinerary divided into three sections, the exhibition explores how Kandinsky’s work and thought influenced not only the development of abstract art in Europe, but also that of the great season of Italian abstractionism between the thirties and fifties.
With 130 works from Ca’ Pesaro, the MA*GA Museum and important public and private collections, the public will be able to immerse themselves in the birth and evolution of abstract art. Among these, about 20 works are by Kandinsky, flanked by masterpieces by European artists such as Paul Klee, Jean Arp, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder and Antoni Tàpies, highlighting the international cultural dialogue that marked the early twentieth century.
The first section of the exhibition reconstructs the European cultural climate of the twenties and thirties, a period in which Kandinsky, with his lectures at the Bauhaus, profoundly influenced modern painting, establishing a dialogue with other protagonists of the historical avant-garde.
The second section is dedicated to the relationship between Kandinsky and Italian artists, delving into key moments such as his solo exhibition at the Galleria del Milione in Milan in 1934, which stimulated debate and reflections among Italian artists at the time entrenched in figurative positions. Works by Lucio Fontana, Osvaldo Licini, Fausto Melotti, Manlio Rho, Enrico Prampolini, Atanasio Soldati and Luigi Veronesi show how Kandinsky’s insights were transformed and integrated into Italian research.
The third and final part of the itinerary offers works by artists from the post-World War II period – including Carla Accardi, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Piero Dorazio, Achille Perilli, Antonio Sanfilippo and Emilio Vedova – who testify to the enduring legacy of abstract art and its vitality in contemporary creative language.
The exhibition “Kandinsky and Italy” is not only a high-level exhibition event: it is also an important moment of reflection on the role of abstractionism in the history of European and Italian art, offering visitors the opportunity to rediscover one of the most influential masters of the last century through an unprecedented dialogue with Italian creativity.
The exhibition is supported by the Lombardy Region as part of the 2025 Single Notice, included in the Varese Culture 2030 project and is part of the Milano Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympics, the cultural program linked to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
INFO: MA*GA Museum of Gallarate (VA)
