Founded in 1959, the Galleria Civica of Modena has been for more than 50 years probably one of the most important cultural centres of contemporary art in Italy.
It started permanently in 1963, originally in the Palazzo dei Musei°°. From the spring of 1995 the Galleria Civica moved to the restored Palazzo Santa Margherita°. Since 1983, the Institute exhibits also in the prestigious Palazzina dei Giardini°°, formerly the ducal shooting lodge, near the principal seat, at the end of the beautiful corso Canal Grande°°.
The Galleria Civica of Modena organizes temporary shows dedicated to photography and contemporary art; promotes young artists in collaboration with the Ufficio Giovani d’Arte; offers educational services; plans meetings, conferences, lections, performances and events dealing with contemporary languages.
Furthermore, it conserves, collects and shows two permanent collections (visitable by appointment): the Drawing Collection, started in 1989, with more than 5.000 works by Italian XX century masters such as Morandi, De Pisis, Sironi, Fontana, Pirandello, Morlotti and others from the later generations; and the Photography Collection which, since the donation by the Modenese photographer Franco Fontana in 1991, has continuously been enriched (now it has more than 3000 works from all over the world: Bragaglia, Sandler, Hamilton, Avedon).
In the bookshop of Palazzo Santa Margherita catalogues, gadgets, bags and accessories are available, usually made thanks to the artistic schools of the town.
[Images 1 and 2 courtesy of the Gallery, from 3 to 7 by the Author upon kind permission]
