Italian Contemporary Art – FARNESINA COLLECTION, with Philippe Daverio

The “Giornata del Contemporaneo – Italian Contemporary Art” is an event held annually to celebrate and disseminate contemporary art.

For the first time in 2018, the Contemporary Art Day is also promoted abroad through the network of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) as the 1st International Festival of the “Giornata del Contemporaneo – Italian Contemporary Art”: nearly 80 offices of Embassies, Consulates and Italian Cultural Institutes joined the initiative, organising more than 80 events, debates, presentations and exhibitions on the theme of contemporary art culture, with the aim of not only highlighting artists and their works but also the producers, curators, stand fitters, museum directors, critics, art magazines and books.

This promotion of Italian contemporary art and culture abroad aims to leverage Italy’s whole art production ‘system’. Therefore, not only artists and their works but also producers, curators, stand fitters, museum directors, critics, art magazines and books, for a total of 100 testimonials around the world.

Today, the Farnesina collection is made up of more than 430 artworks and over 200 artists, for an insured market value exceeding 20 million euros. The collection spans from Futurism to the Transavanguarde through the work of Balla, Boccioni, Depero, de Chirico, Carrà, Sironi, Guttuso, Afro, Burri, Fontana, Schifano, Vespignani, Paladino. It forms an artistic heritage that was awarded the 2017 “Mecenati del XXI secolo” Prize as “best art collection in the world held by public offices”.