"Gianni Berengo Gardin. Lo studio di Giorgio Morandi" exhibition in Milan

From 28 January to 6 April 2026, inside the vault, Gallerie d'Italia - Milan presents the exhibition "Gianni Berengo Gardin. The studio of Giorgio Morandi", one of the focuses of the large-scale widespread project "Metafisica/Metafisiche", curated by Vincenzo Trione. The project, conceived to coincide with the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, is promoted by the Municipality of Milan (Palazzo Reale and Museo del Novecento), the Ministry of Culture (Grande Brera-Palazzo Citterio and Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea) and Gallerie d'Italia, with the Electa publishing house, and is part of the Milano Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympics programme.

"Metafisica/Metafisiche" aims to portray Metaphysics as an artistic movement, a trend and an aesthetic and poetic figure of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, exploring the ways in which the masters of this historic group influenced not only the artistic landscape, but also languages such as architecture, design, fashion, photography, film, theatre, literature, graphic novels and music..

In the series of photographs on display at Gallerie d'Italia, Berengo Gardin documents the intimate atmosphere of Morandi's studio in Bologna before it was dismantled (in 1993). A monastic cell, isolated from the outside world. A private space, in which the prodigious combination of intention and execution takes place.

The poetics of an artist sustained by the conviction that “there is nothing more abstract than what is visible”, animated by the sublime sense of wonder of those who know that the “enigma” is here, beside us, are modulated in this lair. This philosophy spawns a Metaphysics made up of flasks, bottles and plates frozen in time by muted colours, nailed in eternal poses, preserved in a hazy light, lapped by shadows. Like a liquid that allows incoherent moments to coexist.

Berengo Gardin enters Morandi's intimacy; he proposes an adventurous “journey inside a room” that has all the scope of a veritable existential epic. And here he is, casting his poetic and respectful gaze on fragments that have been observed and portrayed so many times on canvas. With modesty, he lingers on everyday objects: vases, bottles, plates, coffee pots and the other things that Morandi included in his paintings.

With mimetic wisdom, much like that shown by Luigi Ghirri, Berengo Gardin becomes one with Morandi, almost to the point of merging with his mathematical yet lyrical style, inspired by Piero della Francesca and based on the use of an unwavering eye, committed to experimenting with an original école du regard. A process befitting a seasoned actor, who succeeds perfectly in entering into his character.

Berengo Gardin seems to identify his spiritual father precisely in the still-life painter, who taught the discernment of the mystery concealed in the folds of life, the appreciation of the poignant poetry contained in the little things, and the ability to make dust sing.