10+1 must-see exhibitions over the Christmas period

In Milan, at the Museo delle Culture (MUDEC), “Dalla figurazione all’astrazione” is an exhibition dedicated to Piet Mondrian and Dutch Realist painting. The exhibition’s themed sections offer an instant overview of the artist’s stylistic evolution, including a section dedicated to “De Stijl” (The Style), a movement Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg started up in the Netherlands in 1917 to innovate art, architecture and design.
Dates: 24 November 2021 - 27 March 2022
Location: MUDEC – Museo delle Culture, Milan
Curators: Daniel Koep and Doede Hardeman
Site: https://www.mudec.it/ita/piet-mondrian-dalla-figurazione-allastrazione/

Founded by Marco Fiedler and Achim Reichert, Paris-based design studio VIER5 is showcased in the “Win a new car” exhibition at the IN-DESIGN space at the Macro Museum in Rome. Archival images, objects and designs present the studio’s work from 2002 until today. VIER5’s practice is based on a classical notion of design as they strive to create new offerings in the visual communications sphere.
Dates: 3 November 2021 - 6 February 2022
Location: MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art
Promoters: ROMA Culture
Site: http://www.museomacro.it

American Pop Artist Jeff Koons, one of the most successful artists on the world art scene, displays his visionary and surrealist works in Florence at Palazzo Strozzi. Characterized by brightness, many of the works are in stainless steel, imbued with a particular energy through the use of extravagant colours.
Dates: 2 October 2021 - 30 January 2022
Location: Palazzo Strozzi
Curators: Arturo Galansino, Joachim Pissarro
Site: http://www.palazzostrozzi.org

As part of the commemorations for the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death, the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche at Palazzo Ducale in Urbino hosts the “Città di Dio. Città degli uomini Architetture Dantesche e Utopie Urbane” exhibition, focusing on the influence of the Somma Poeta’s imagery on artists, architects and illustrators. A hundred contemporary Italian architects of all ages revisit the “Divine Comedy” in a series of drawings.
Dates: 26 November 2021 - 27 March 2022
Location: Galleria Nazionale delle Marche | Palazzo Ducale di Urbino.
Curators: Luigi Gallo and Luca Molinari
Site: http://www.gallerianazionalemarche.it/

Forty works, some being seen for the first time, are on show at the “Silicon Dioxide” exhibition dedicated to English sculptor Tony Cragg at the Museo del Vetro di Murano in Venice from 3 December 2021 to 13 March 2022. The exhibition covers the main stages of the artist’s career, from his assemblages to landmark large-scale works and more recent pieces that display Cragg’s curiosity for the many effects that can be achieved using stained glass.
Dates: 3 December 2021 - 13 March 2022
Location: Museo del Vetro di Murano
Curators: Berengo Studio, in collaboration with the Musei Civici di Venezia.
Site: http://museovetro.visitmuve.it/

The Doge’s Palace presents the story of the Serenissima’s moments of crisis, breakdown and regeneration at the “Venetia 1600. Nascite e rinascite” exhibition, featuring the work of artists, architects and scholars working in the lagoon city over the last millennium. Alongside major paintings from artists of the calibre of Titian, Tiepolo and Canaletto, the exhibition is enriched with a selection of drawings, textiles, sculptures and architectural models.
Dates: 4 September 2021 - 25 March 2022
Location: Venice, Palazzo Ducale – Appartamento del Doge Belli
Curated by: Robert Echols, Frederick Ilchman, Gabriele Matino and Andrea Bellieni
Site: https://palazzoducale.visitmuve.it/it/mostre/mostre-in-corso/venetia-1600-nascite-e-rinascite/2021/03/21189/mostra/

Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the foundation of the most groundbreaking group of Italian designers and architects in recent decades, “Memphis: 40 Years of Kitsch and Elegance” is an exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery at Weil am Rhein, Basel, featuring creations, furniture, lamps, drawings, sketches and photographs that offer a glimpse into the world of Memphis and its leading lights, from mentor Ettore Sottsass to Michele de Lucchi, Michael Graves, Barbara Radice, Peter Shire, Shiro Kuramata and Nathalie Du Pasquier.
Dates: 2 February - 23 January 2022
Location: Vitra Design Museum – Basel Weil am Rhein
Site: www.design-museum.de

Five hundred photographs and two hundred original documents from 1940 to 1980 are on display at the “Ettore Sottsass, L’objet Magique” exhibition in Paris, at the Centre Pompidou. Dedicated to Italian designer Ettore Sottsass (1917, Austria – 2007, Italy), the exhibition presents a unique collection of over four hundred drawings, paintings and design objects that illustrate the concept of “magical design” and the artist’s emotional, ritual and metaphorical world.
Dates: 13 October 2021 - 4 January 2022
Location: Centre Pompidou
More info: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/programme/expositions-musee

The “Botticelli. Artiste et designer” exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris reveals the many faces of an artist known worldwide as an icon of Italian Renaissance painting. Forty works ranging from the religious to the mythological trace Botticelli’s career, from his beginnings at Master Filippo Lippi’s workshop to his late paintings influenced by Girolamo Savonarola’s propaganda.
Dates: 10 September 2021 - 24 January 2022
Location: Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris 
Curators: Ana Debenedetti and Pierre Curie
Site: https://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com

The Helmut Newton Foundation presents an exhibition entitled “Helmut Newton. Legacy” at the Museum für Fotografie in Berlin. On until 23 January 2022, it showcases a selection of famous and previously-unseen shots that celebrate the renowned German-born, Australian-naturalized photographer. Three hundred works, half of which are on display for the first time, highlight lesser-known aspects of work by the best-known photographer in history. Newton redefined social and ethical boundaries, simultaneously attracting and repelling with his visions of fashion and femininity.
Dates: 31 October 2021 - 23 January 2022
Location: Museum für Fotografie, Berlin
Curator: Matthias Herder
Site: https://www.museumsportal-berlin.de/it/mostre/helmut-newton-legacy
https://helmut-newton-foundation.org/en/ausstellungen/helmut-newton-legacy/

Hundreds of colourful LEDs, duplicated thousands of times in a room, mirrored on the floor, walls and ceiling at the Tate Modern in London, make up the “Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life” exhibition. Two Infinity Mirror Rooms, Yayoi Kusama’s immersive installations, offer a glimpse into the artist’s universe. A number of photographs help to explain the phenomenon of mirrored rooms.
Dates: 18 May 2021 - 12 June 2022
Location: Tate Modern, London
Site: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/yayoi-kusama-infinity-mirror-rooms