Associação Arte e Espiritualidade Centro de Estudos “Paolo Sesto VI” sobre arte moderna e contemporânea, Brescia

The “Art and Spirituality” collection of 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 established during the episcopate and pontificate of the Brescia native Paolo VI; for this reason, the collection shows several similarities with the Modern Religious Art Collection, established by Pope Montini himself 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 was established, “Paolo VI” Study Center on Modern and Contemporary Art. In recent years, the museum collection has significantly enriched thanks to donations from contemporary artists. The exhibited works, over 400, document the major artistic trends of the twentieth century; one can admire paintings, sculptures, drawings, and graphics 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 particularly reserved for sculpture, enriched by works by Fontana, Messina, Manzù, Greco, Minguzzi.