The Galleries, housed within Palazzo Massari, include the civic 19th-century collections, the Giovanni Boldini Museum, and the museum dedicated to Filippo de Pisis (1896-1956). The latter, arranged on the ground floor, was established on the centenary of the birth of the Ferrara-born painter following the acquisition of an exceptional body of de Pisis’s works from the collection owned by Manlio Malabotta and donated to the Municipality of Ferrara by his wife Franca Fenga. It consists of twenty-four oil paintings—including ‘Rotten Fish’ (1928), the famous ‘Fulminated Gladiolus’ (1930), the ‘Portrait of Allegro’ (1940), and ‘Rose in the Bottle’ (1950)—seventy drawings, five watercolors, and fifteen engravings. This collection, which enlarged the already existing de Pisis holdings, is exhibited in a dedicated section of the museum.The museum has been open to the public since 1998 in its current layout, organized into monographic rooms dedicated to Ferrara artists; with the presence of few but significant works by Carlo Carrà and Mario Sironi. The rooms document the local artistic creativity of the first half of the last century, a period when Ferrara was a hotbed of interesting and influential personalities and artistic currents, such as modernist Expressionism, Metaphysics, and the Novecento movement. There are rooms dedicated to Aroldo Bonzagni, Achille Funi, Arrigo Minerbi, Giuseppe Virgili, Enzo Nenci, Annibale Zucchini, Mimì Quilici Buzzacchi, Aldo Bandinelli, Roberto Melli, Mario Pozzati, and Filippo de Pisis. The collection related to the latter is divided into two important segments that anthologically document the painter’s journey: the first was acquired by the Giuseppe Pianori Foundation and the Ferrara Savings Bank, and the second, the Manlio and Franca Calabotta collection, was donated to the city by the widow of the Triestine notary. De Pisis’s poetic is clearly expressed in the rooms through works focused on his preferred themes, still lifes, ranging from his metaphysical twilight beginnings to the French post-impressionist influences that led his style to express existential content with increasingly abbreviated and rarefied signs; the Malabotta collection also left the museum a varied selection of drawings, watercolors, pastels, and lithographs by the artist.
In 2004, the Ferrara municipal administration presented to MusArc the goal of the Modern and Contemporary Art Hub, designed by Massimo and Gabriella Caramassi, which foresees the logistical redistribution of artistic institutions between Palazzo dei Diamanti, Palazzo Bevilacqua Massari, and Palazzina dei Cavalieri di Malta, integrating Palazzo Prosperi Sacrati as the future home of the “Filippo de Pisis” Modern and Contemporary Art Museum within the integrated museum system. The space division project includes annexing the Illustration Museum to the Hub to free it from the isolation of its location on Via Frescobaldi, allowing for more visitors; furthermore, the ground floor is undergoing integration of the Michelangelo Antonioni Museum and the Risorgimento and Resistance Museum; finally, the Multipurpose Room, which served as temporary storage of artworks during renovations, has now returned to functioning as a versatile cultural space benefiting initiatives from the municipal administration and private galleries.
The museum’s sculpture collection is mainly exhibited in the inner rooms, but some works by Rita da Re, Maurizio Bonora, Man Ray, Carmelo Capello, Aldo Calò, Filippo Tallone, Augusto Murer, Emilio Greco, Marcello Mascherini, and Laura Rivalta are also located in the courtyard of Palazzo Massari. Within the sections of the Boldini Museum and the Modern and Contemporary Art Museum, there are works by Ferrarese-area sculptors such as Roberto Melli, Arrigo Minerbi, Giuseppe Virgili, and Annibale Zucchini; as well as works by Enzo Nenci, Egidio Casarotti, and Laerte Milani. On the occasion of the “Art Fall. Contemporary Ferrara” exhibition, the Boldini Museum hosted video projections such as “Pletora. The Gift” (2008), installations like “Manifesto” (2009), and performances such as “Kin Knight King” (2010).
Information on Filippo de Pisis Modern and Contemporary Art Museum
Corso Porta Mare, 9,
44121 Ferrara (Ferrara)
0532243415
artemoderna@comune.fe.it
https://www.artecultura.fe.it/index.phtml
Source: MIBACT
