GILBERT & GEORGE
from September 10, 2026, to April 5, 2027
The relationship between Gilbert & George and the Sonnabend Gallery began in 1971, when the famous The Singing Sculpture inaugurated the gallery's New York venue, marking the beginning of a personal and professional partnership spanning decades. Nearly twenty years after their last major solo exhibition in Italy, the Sonnabend Collection—already home to the historic work Berries (1985), on permanent display in Mantua—presents a focused and conceptually rigorous exhibition at Palazzo della Ragione.This selection of eight emblematic works, all on view in Italy for the first time, traces the key milestones of the artists’ nearly six-decade career while exploring the themes that have shaped their practice: sexuality, politics, religion, urban identity, and mortality.
The exhibition layout is structured around a direct dialogue between their early years and recent production. It opens with the monumental charcoal drawings of The Bar II (1972), a suspended, silent, and melancholy space.
From the 1980s onwards, the focus shifts toward their famous large-scale pictures arranged in vibrant geometric grids, reflecting the microcosm of our world. Through this unmistakable technique, the exhibition explores irreverent and provocative chapters such as Piss off! (2014)—a powerful act of visual rebellion against social conventions—and the heightened urban anxiety of Bale (2013), leading to the ironic and surreal imagery of Beardway (2016), where the artists conceal their own likenesses behind the contemporary obsession with beards, transforming themselves into contemporary pop icons.
A Dynamic Musuem: The Rotation of Works from the Collection
In parallel with the exhibition dedicated to Gilbert & George, the permanent display at Palazzo della Ragione is renewed through the rotation of an exceptional group of masterpieces, furthering the historic cultural dialogue between America and Europe.
After inaugurating the exhibition cycle in Mantua, Andy Warhol's Campbell’s Soup Can (Turkey Noodle) and Roy Lichtenstein's Large Spool will temporarily leave the galleries. This transition paves the way for a selection of works of major historical significance from the United States to join the itinerary: three outstanding works on paper executed by Roy Lichtenstein in the early 1960s—Airplane (1961), Man with Coat (1961), and the celebrated comic-style Knock Knock (1961)—and four iconic canvases by Andy Warhol dedicated to his famous Flowers series (1964). Together, these works offer visitors a rare opportunity to explore the genesis and graphic precision of these iconic images.
The prestigious section dedicated to Jeff Koons is enriched by the addition of two iconic works that mark pivotal moments in the artist’s exploration of materials and meaning: Jim Beam - Barrel Car (1986), whose surface evokes an almost sacred sense of purity associated with steel objects in industrial civilization; and Buster Keaton (1988), which reimagines a legend of American cinema through the age-old technique of woodcarving, historically associated with medieval religious sculpture. These two landmark works from the late 1980s replace Wild Boy and Puppy (1988) and Gazing Ball (Standing Woman) (2014).
Through a comprehensive project aimed at enhancing the permanent display while developing temporary exhibitions of high scholarly value, the Sonnabend Collection Mantova affirms its role as a constantly evolving cultural space, inviting audiences to return and discover new details and narratives of 20th and 21st-century art with each visit.
The Sonnabend Collection Mantova is an initiative of the Municipality of Mantua, in partnership with the Sonnabend Collection Foundation and Marsilio Arte. The project is supported by BPER Banca. The exhibition design is curated by unostudio.
