Fondazione Somaini
To mark the centenary of the artist’s birth, the Fondazione Somaini has launched several initiatives aimed at exploring the works on paper by Francesco Somaini (1926–2005). From November 19, 2026, to May 29, 2027, the Foundation will host an exhibition at its premises — curated by Luisa Somaini and Chiara Rampoldi — that highlights the relationship between graphic design, the creation of sculptural works, and the use of photography as a tool for artistic research. The exhibition is titled Somaini. Metamorphosis: Drawings, Sculptures, Photomontages.
Somaini was, in fact, a great and prolific draftsman who—in his obsessive pursuit of ever-greater formal quality, constantly evolving to meet his own creative needs—experimented with various techniques. He eventually developed a personal method, inspired by an approach of working “by way of subtraction”, which involved techniques such as “washed-out inks”—a process that entails immersing the sheet of paper in water.
Central to his body of work on paper is the series titled Metamorphosis, which —during the final years of his engagement with Art Informel — served as a vital catalyst for refining his artistic vision, ushering in a significant new phase in both his theoretical and practical approach. This series already foreshadows themes such as the Antropoammoniti and the various “traces” that he would go on to develop from the mid-1970s onwards. The exhibition at the Foundation highlights specific, pivotal moments that document his evolving process of conceiving and creating sculpture, drawing upon themes deeply rooted in his practice. An emblematic example — explored here for the first time — is the reference to the figure of the Centaur: an archetype of human duality, bridging the instinctual, animalistic side and the rational, spiritual component. It was a figure with whom the sculptor likely identified. In this context, the exhibition includes the protective suit worn by the artist while carving materials using a high-pressure sandblasting technique—a method he employed from the mid-1960s.
The exhibition, which features over one hundred works — including drawings, paintings, sculptures, photomontages, and poetic texts created between 1951 and 1985 — dedicates its first room to two mythological tales: those of Arachne and Daphne, as recounted in Ovid’s “Metamorphoses“. Here, one can observe the artist’s engagement with certain masterpieces of modern sculpture. The other two rooms focus on the formal variations and symbolic migrations of the flame—which the artist used to carve blocks of wax, as seen in the Figure di fuoco series—as well as on the transformation of the city through the creation of anthropomorphic architectural models titled Carnificazioni di un’architettura. These works were foreshadowed in the aforementioned Corpo Urbano drawings and represent a logical continuation of the ideas expressed in “Urban urgencies” (Mazzotta, 1972).
The exhibition is accompanied by a leaflet published by Silvana Editoriale.
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Biglietto:
Free admission, by reservation only: call +39 02 583 117 07 or write fondazione.somaini@gmail.com.
Visitor entrance on Via Cassolo, opposite number 3.
