On the impressive Piazza d’Armi, the Museo Novecento a Napoli was inaugurated in 2010 within the historic Carcere Alto di Castel Sant’Elmo. Conceived as a ‘museum in progress’, its aim is to provide a complete and rigorous overview of nearly a century of Neapolitan culture, always attentive to the great waves of innovation and the succession of artistic movements and visions.
The collection brings together works owned by the public, donations from artists or their heirs, and long-term loans from private collectors. The museum showcases more than 170 works created by 90 Neapolitan artists, alongside contributions from other influential names who played an active role in the city’s cultural scene.
The Museo del Novecento di Napoli guides visitors through a chronological exhibition path divided into sections: from documentation of the Secessione dei ventitré (1909) and early Futurism in Naples (1910-1914) to the Circumvisionisti movement and the second wave of Futurism (1920s–30s); from works produced between the wars to the artistic experiences that followed World War II (1948-1958), from the Gruppo ‘Sud’ and so-called Neorealism, to the M.A.C. group, Art Informel and Gruppo ’58. The exhibition moves on to the sections dedicated to the 1970s, and concludes with the final gallery documenting artists who continued their experiments into the 1980s, but who had already made their mark on the Neapolitan art scene in the previous decade.
‘Novecento a Napoli’ is presented as a chronological journey through different artistic sections: from the founding events of the Secessione dei ventitré (1909) and early Futurism a Napoli (1910-1914) to the Circumvisionisti movement and the second phase of Futurism (1920s–30s).
The tour continues with the sections dedicated to the 1970s, giving special attention to Poetico-visual Experimentation and to groups engaged in social art initiatives.
The last section documents the work of artists who, while pursuing new artistic languages after the 1980s, had already established themselves in the city earlier in that decade, before the devastating earthquake of November 23 deeply affected Naples and other southern regions.
