Rosalind McKever is the Harry M. Weinrebe Curatorial Fellow at the National Gallery, London

Giovanni Anselmo. Photo: Chris Felver; courtesy Archivio Giovanni Anselmo ETS

‘He made visible the invisible forces that govern the universe’ – a tribute to Giovanni Anselmo (1934–2023)

A leading member of the Arte Povera movement, the artist stood out among his peers for his wit, imagination and interest in elemental forces

4 Jan 2024
(1951), Afro Basaldella. Private collection

The Italian painter who expressed himself in America

For all his care to balance the traditions of his Venetian forebears with the style of his US contemporaries, Afro Basaldella came to be seen as an Abstract Expressionist

27 Jun 2022
Germano Celant (1940–2020).

‘A giant of Italian art’ – on Germano Celant (1940–2020)

The critic and curator, who coined the term Arte Povera, played a large part in shaping the art world as we know it

4 May 2020
Rosso Plastica M3 (1961), Alberto Burri. © Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri, Città di Castello

The legacy of Alberto Burri burns bright – at home in Umbria, and in Venice

Some 50 works by the enigmatic artist have travelled from his hometown to Venice this summer

9 May 2019
Mario Merz in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

The enigmatic igloos of Mario Merz

An unreal city of the the artist’s spherical structures has sprouted at the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan

7 Nov 2018
Lightning-struck Tree, (2012), Giuseppe Penone, Private collection, photo: © Jonty Wilde; courtesy the artist and Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Giuseppe Penone sees the wood for the trees in Yorkshire

The Arte Povera pioneer explores art and nature in Europe’s largest sculpture park

26 Jun 2018
Installation view of ‘Post Zang Tumb Tuum. Art Life Politics: Italia 1918–1943’ at the Fondazione Prada, Milan, 2018.

Displays of power in Italian art under Fascism

The relationship between Italian art and politics reconsidered through restaged exhibitions from the Fascist era

9 Apr 2018
The Enchanted Room (detail; 1917), Carlo Carrà.

Milan’s modern masters enchant at the Estorick

The Pinacoteca di Brera’s overlooked collection of modern Italian art gets a welcome outing in London

1 Feb 2018
Enrico Castellani, c. 2001. Photography by Nando Lanfranco

Enrico Castellani (1930–2017)

The Italian artist, minimalism’s chosen forefather, was a key figure of the post-war avant-garde

12 Dec 2017

Medardo Rosso: the first modern sculptor

A convincing case is made for the Italian artist’s ambitions, and the need to bring a wider audience to his work

6 Dec 2017

Space exploration with Lucio Fontana

Eleven of Lucio Fontana’s ‘Spatial Environments’ have been meticulously recreated in Milan – and the effects are extraordinary

3 Oct 2017
Installation view of Zeitnot (2017), Elisabetta Benassi. Photo: Andrea Rossetti; courtesy Collezione Maramotti; © Elisabetta Benassi

The contemporary vision of Collezione Maramotti

In the decade since it opened, the collection has emerged as a frontrunner among Italy’s contemporary cultural foundations

29 Aug 2017
'Ties|Legami. Pietro Consagra and Ugo Mulas' at The Italian Cultural Institute

Sculpture in two dimensions

Pietro Consagra made sculptures with the camera in mind, and worked closely with photographer Ugo Mulas

1 Aug 2017
Installation view of ‘BRUT(E)’ at the Monnaie de Paris, 2016. Courtesy Monnaie de Paris; photo: Manolis Baboussis; © Jannis Kounellis

Jannis Kounellis’s unique blend of aesthetics, poetry, and alchemy

The transformative art of the Arte Povera pioneer will continue to beguile and challenge us

20 Feb 2017
Venus of the Rags (1964–2016), Michelangelo Pistoletti. Photo: Tom Lindboe. Courtesy of the Blenheim Art Foundation

Michelangelo Pistoletto goes from rags to riches at Blenheim Palace

The Italian artist uses humble materials to promote a high-minded utopian message. How does his work fare in such opulent surroundings?

20 Dec 2016

Harnessing the future: the art of Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni’s untimely death in 1916 turned him into the tragic hero of Futurism – and helped the artist’s reputation flourish abroad

23 Jul 2016

The musical forms of Fausto Melotti

Fausto Melotti’s sculptures ingeniously blur the line between figurative and abstract forms and his work deserves to be better known

28 May 2016
View of the picture gallery of MASP in December 2015.

São Paulo’s floating art collection is back

Lina Bo Bardi’s innovative approach to collection display has been revived

18 Jan 2016

Beyond Modigliani – alternative histories of modern Italian art in New York

Uncovering some of the period’s forgotten stars

23 Nov 2015

Surface Tension: Celebrating Alberto Burri’s Centenary

The centenary of the artist’s birth is being marked by exhibitions and events worldwide

13 Oct 2015

The Many Faces of Audrey Hepburn

The National Portrait Gallery celebrates the woman who Cecil Beaton called ‘a new icon of femininity’

9 Jul 2015

Review: ‘Zero Atmosphere’ at Cortesi Gallery, London

Is London’s attention shifting away from Italian art?

26 May 2015

Hepworth Wakefield puts plaster casts in pride of place

Barbara Hepworth once called plaster ‘a dead material’. She was wrong

20 May 2015