Gino Severini in Cortona: Art That Connects Different Worlds

From 5 July to 1 November 2026, the MAEC, the Museum of the Etruscan Academy and the City of Cortona, hosts the international exhibition “Gino Severini. Modernity as Dialogue” at Palazzo Casali, dedicated to one of the great protagonists of twentieth-century art.

The exhibition celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Cortona-born artist Gino Severini, a central figure of the European avant-gardes and a cultural bridge between Italy and France, tradition and modernity, Futurism and Cubism.

The exhibition brings together more than 80 works, including paintings and drawings, from major Italian and international museums and prestigious private collections. Lenders include the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Estorick Collection in London, the Musée d’Art et Industrie in Saint-Étienne, the Museo del Novecento in Milan, the Vatican Pinacoteca and MART in Rovereto.

The exhibition presents Severini as an artist of dialogue: capable of moving across different languages, countries and artistic periods, while always maintaining a strong connection with his Italian and Tuscan roots. After his experience in France and his encounter with the great avant-gardes, Severini continued to preserve a deep bond with Cortona, his hometown.

The exhibition is divided into five sections and retraces the main phases of his research: from the Macchiaioli to Divisionism, from Futurism to Cubism, from the return to Classicism to decorative painting, and finally to the relationship between religious art and modernity.

Alongside the works, original documents, sketches, studies and photographic materials will also be displayed. Particularly significant is the section dedicated to the frescoes created by Severini in churches in French-speaking Switzerland, accompanied by an immersive multimedia installation with 3D viewers.

For Cortona, this exhibition is an important opportunity to rediscover the bond with one of its most distinguished artists and to tell, through his work, a fundamental chapter of twentieth-century European art.