The Concetto Pozzati Archive inaugurates “Da e per Morandi” An exhibition promoted by the municipality of Bologna on the occasion of ART CITY 2026
Casa Morandi, part of the Civic Museums Department of the Municipality of Bologna, will host Concetto Pozzati. From and For Morandi. The exhibition, inaugurated on Friday 16 January and open to the public from 17 January to 15 March 2026, is curated by Maura Pozzati and organized in collaboration with the Concetto Pozzati Archive to pay tribute to one of the most active protagonists of Italian culture in the postwar period.
The exhibition is conceived as an investigation into the relationship between art and commodity, focusing on the «critique of seeing and of the eye.» An artistic journey that moves through the different cultural currents of the postwar era, from Surrealism to Informal Art and Pop Art. The mark, a distinctive trait of Concetto Pozzati, lends itself to comparison with the art of Magritte and De Chirico, whom he defined as his ideal masters, making him one of the most important representatives of Italian Pop Art.
It is precisely thanks to the mark that we are able to move through Pozzati’s artistic practice. The production of differences, disturbance, contamination, gymnastics of the hands and eyes, disorientation, ambiguity, irony, the division between experimentation and tradition, art and political responsibility: these are some of the recurring concepts in his intense artistic and intellectual life. Concetto Pozzati wrote fundamental texts on Giorgio Morandi, including the presentation of the exhibition Morandi and His Time (1985–1986) and the portrait included in his painter’s diary Parola d’artista (2007), where the conflicted relationship with the Bolognese master emerges. The title From and For Morandi brings together works that testify to more than forty years of dialogue with Morandi, through paintings and reflections on his method.
The exhibition path follows Pozzati’s poetics, which reflect on the past as creative material: «To use is to do. To do is to live.» The exhibition moves through deep emotions conveyed by objects, which become vehicles of memory and affection. Each work expresses an intimate sensitivity, from the dialogue between eras in Restoration (1973) with Morandi himself, to the domestic melancholy of At My Home (2007–2008). Objects come to life, transforming into affective presences that speak of everyday life and the past. In this way, Pozzati’s painting becomes an emotional experience, where memory and invention intertwine.
Concetto Pozzati. From and For Morandi represents a unique opportunity to immerse oneself in the complexity and vitality of an artist who was able to weave together experimentation, tradition, and critical reflection, always keeping the conversation with the past and with the masters who shaped him alive. Through the dialogue with Morandi’s work, visitors are invited to discover an artistic journey in which the mark becomes a tool of investigation, bearing witness to Pozzati’s ability to transform every creative gesture into a timeless intellectual and sensitive experience.
