The exhibition explores the astonishing career of collector and gallery owner Ileana Sonnabend (1914-2007), whose unique flair and mindful determination made her one of the most incisive figures in the recent history of the visual arts. The exhibition showcases over fifty works of art from the Sonnabend Collection Foundation in New York, from the Sonnabend Collection Mantova, a collection on permanent display at the Palazzo della Ragione since 2025, and from other prestigious public and private collections, all of them closely connected with the work of Ileana Sonnabend and the galleries in Paris (1962-1980), Geneva (1974-1975) and New York (1970-2014) that she ran with her husband, Michael Sonnabend, and with the assistance of their adoptive son, Antonio Homem, from the late 1970s onwards.
The artworks on display are by 35 of the many artists whose work Sonnabend showed in the course of her career: Giovanni Anselmo, Arman, John Baldessari, Georg Baselitz, Ashley Bickerton, Mel Bochner, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Christo, Jim Dine, Tano Festa, Dan Flavin, Gilbert & George, Giorgio Griffa, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Jannis Kounellis, Barry Le Va, Roy Lichtenstein, Piero Manzoni, John McCracken, Mario Merz, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg, Luigi Ontani, Giulio Paolini, A. R. Penck, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Robert Rauschenberg, Mimmo Rotella, Mario Schifano, Richard Serra, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol and Gilberto Zorio.
Through their works, which include numerous masterpieces never shown in Italy before now, visitors can retrace the history of contemporary art from Pop Art to Arte Povera and from Minimalism to Neo-Geo.
In addition to retracing the history of the most radical avant-garde movements of the past few decades, the exhibition highlights the role played by Ileana Sonnabend in forging a bond between European and American art. Through her work, she built solid bridges between Europe and New York, for example by showing such emerging artists as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Bruce Nauman, Giorgio Griffa, Giovanni Anselmo and Michelangelo Pistoletto in Paris, or by being the first to show the work of artists such as Giulio Paolini, Mario Merz, George Baselitz, Gilbert & George, Luigi Ontani and Jannis Kounellis in New York.
The exhibition is, in effect, a tribute to a woman who proved capable of connecting different cultures, using art to underscore both their affinities and their differences.
The works of art are displayed in eight rooms on the Palazzo Esposizioni Roma’s piano nobile, forming a mosaic-like installation in the course of which at times they dialogue, at others they clash, but throughout, a single, powerful leitmotif underpins the entire display – the story, the enthusiasm and the intuition of Ileana Sonnabend.
Alongside such masterpieces of American art as Jasper Johns’s Figure 8, Roy Licthenstein’s Wall Explosion II, Andy Warhol’s Nine Jackies and Robert Rauschenberg’s Kite, the retrospective showcases work stretching from the masters of Minimalism, Conceptual Art and Arte Povera to more recent work by Jeff Koons, Ashley Bickerton and Luigi Ontani, revealing Sonnabend’s particular interest in the more innovative and experimental art forms of her day.
The Palazzo Esposizioni Roma’s project is designed to complement the Municipality of Mantua’s permanent display, offering a parallel and complementary pathway that broadens and deepens visitors’ understanding of the Sonnabend Collection.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue edited by Mario Codognato and published by Marsilio, with essays by the curator,Giorgia Gastaldon, Mirta d’Argenzio and Eduardo Cicelyn.