Art and Spirituality Association Paolo VI Study Center on Modern and Contemporary Art, Brescia

The “Art and Spirituality” collection in Brescia is the only permanent exhibition of modern and contemporary art in Brescia and is certainly one of the largest, boasting a heritage of about 6,500 works. The original core of this collection

was formed during the episcopate and pontificate of the Brescia native Pope Paul VI; for this reason, the collection shows several similarities with the Modern Religious Art Collection, established by the same Pope Montini in the Vatican in 1973. Following his death, his personal collection was assigned by his private Secretary, Monsignor Pasquale Macchi, to the Paolo VI Institute of Brescia, the Pontiff’s hometown, where in 1988 the Art and Spirituality Association, Paolo VI Study Center on Modern and Contemporary Art, was founded. In recent years, the museum collection has greatly expanded thanks to donations from contemporary artists. The exhibited works, over 400, document the major artistic movements of the twentieth century; visitors can admire paintings, sculptures, drawings, and graphic art by Italian and foreign artists. Among the Italians are Sironi, Guttuso, Morandi, De Chirico, Fiume, Carrà, Casorati, and others. Noteworthy are also works by Heckel, Chagall, Matisse, and Dalí. A section is specifically dedicated to sculpture, enriched by works by Fontana, Messina, Manzù, Greco, Minguzzi.