Artist

Michelangelo Pistoletto

Born in Biella, 1938

Michelangelo Pistoletto‘s artistic training began in the studio of his father, a painter and restorer, where he went to work at the age of fourteen. He subsequently attended Armando Testa’s advertising design school.
In 1955 he began to exhibit the results of the inquiry into self-portraiture that characterized his painting in the late fifties. He received the San Fedele Prize in Milan in 1958. In 1960 he had his first solo show at Galleria Galatea in Turin. That same year he made several life-sized self-portraits on gold, silver and copper monochrome backgrounds. In 1961 he created the series of works entitled The Present, painting his own image on a black background to which a layer of transparent varnish gave a mirror gloss.
In 1962 he perfected the technique of his Mirror Paintings: he produced an image on tissue paper by enlarging a photograph to life size, painting it with the tip of a brush, then affixed it onto a sheet of mirror-finished stainless steel (after 1971 the painted tissue was replaced by a silkscreen of the photographic image). These works directly include the viewer and real time, and open up perspective, reversing the Renaissance perspective that had been closed by the twentieth-century avant-gardes.
In 1964, at Galleria Sperone in Turin, he showed the body of work called Plexiglass—a first transposition in real space of the new open dimension of the mirror paintings, as well as a declaration of art’s “conceptual” character.
In 1965-1966 he showed a set of works, entitled Minus Objects, in his studio. These works, made in the contingent dimension of time and based on the principle of difference, broke with the dogma of the uniformity of individual artistic style. They are considered fundamental to the birth of Arte Povera, an art movement theorized by Germano Celant in 1967, of which Pistoletto was a an animating force and a leading figure.
In March, 1967 Pistoletto began to work outside traditional exhibition spaces. In December of that year he announced the opening of his studio, in a manifesto. In this context The Zoo arose—a group of people from different artistic disciplines, together with whom Pistoletto carried out actions conceived as creative collaborations from 1968 to 1970. Invited to the Venice Biennale in 1968, he published his Manifesto of Collaboration.
From 1985 to 1989 he created a new cycle of works, made up of surfaces and volumes in anonymous materials and dark, gloomy colors, called Art of Squalor, exhibited at Galleria Persano in Turin and at Galleria Pieroni in Rome.
In 1991 he was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Vienna Fine Arts Academy, a position he kept until 2000. With his students, he developed an innovative program intent on breaking down the traditional barriers between artistic disciplines.
In 1994 began Project Art with which Pistoletto—by means of a program manifesto, public meetings, displays and exhibitions that involved artists of different disciplines and representatives of broad sectors of society—placed art at the center of socially responsible change.
1998 witnessed the establishment of Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto in a former mill in Biella, Italy, acquired by the artist in 1991. Here the goals expressed in Project Art are still being developed and accomplished.
2000 saw the inauguration, at the Paoli-Calmettes Cancer Institute in Marseille, of the Place of Meditation and Prayer, a multiconfessional, secular space conceived and executed by the artist.
In 2003 he was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto
The site-specific installation, realized with sustainable materials and procedures more than 10 meters high, reaches the facade of San Lorenzo Arts.
17 Apr 2024 - 02 Jun 2024
Sanlorenzo arts
Venice
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: 60 ans d’identités et d’altérités
The exhibition 60 ans d’identités et d’altérités covers more than sixty years of Michelangelo...
03 Jun 2023 - 24 Dec 2023
Continua Les Moulins
Paris
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: La Pace Preventiva
The Sala delle Cariatidi in Milan's Palazzo Reale will be transformed into a labyrinth for the next exhibition dedicated to Michelangelo Pistoletto's artistic research path.
Milan
Exhibitions
Yoan Capote, Michelangelo Pistoletto: Escala Humana
Galleria Continua (Habana) presents the exhibition "Escala Humana" by Cuban artist Yoan Capote and Michelangelo Pistoletto.
24 Nov 2022 - 02 Feb 2023
Galleria Continua – Habana
Cuba
Exhibitions
Les Ritals
With the valuable collaboration of: Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto: Michelangelo Pistoletto, Fondazione Armando Testa, Fondazione Piero Manzoni, Hauser & Wirth: Piero Manzoni, Perrotin: Maurizio Cattelan, Tornabuoni Arte: Carla Accardi et Lucio Fontana
19 Oct 2021 - 12 Jan 2022
Galleria Continua Paris
Paris
Exhibitions
Utopie Fantastiche
In collaboration with Galleria Continua, Utopie Fantastiche is presented in the beautiful location of Rocca di Angera.
20 Apr 2020 - 27 Sep 2020
Rocca di Angera
Milan
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: Desde el Tercer Paraíso
For the second time, Havana City will be inserted into the large “mapping” of the Third Paradise...
22 May 2015 - 22 Jun 2015
Fototeca de Cuba
Havana
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: Thirteen Less Two
Michelangelo Pistoletto (b.1933, Biella) will use a wooden hammer to shatter with all his might all but...
24 May 2015 - 24 May 2015
Havana
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: The Minus Objects 1965-1966
Luhring Augustine presents The Minus Objects 1965-1966, an exhibition of one of the earliest bodies of...
18 Dec 2013 - 11 May 2014
Luhring Augustine Bushwick
New York
Exhibitions
Sleepless, The Bed in History of Contemporary Art
An item usually associated with sleep, the bed has accompanied us throughout human history. As an object,...
30 Jan 2015 - 07 Jun 2015
Belvedere
Vienna
Exhibitions
A triple tour, works from the Pinault Collection
The Centre des monuments nationaux presents A triple tour, an exhibition of works from the Pinault Collection,...
21 Oct 2013 - 06 Jan 2014
Paris
Exhibitions
In Part
Exhibition “In Part”, curated by Nicholas Cullinan, is staged in the Nord gallery, one of the former...
09 May 2015 - 04 Nov 2015
Fondazione Prada, Milan
Milan
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: Partitura In Nero
Simon Lee Gallery‘s exhibition is dedicated to one of the most successful Italian artist Michelangelo...
13 Mar 2015 - 25 Apr 2015
Simon Lee, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Exhibitions
Follia Continua! 25 years of Galleria Continua
To celebrate 25 years of adventure, projects, sharing and madness, it is just natural for Galleria Continua...
26 Sep 2015 - 22 Nov 2015
Centquatre – Paris
Paris
Exhibitions
A “Small-Format” Collection
Marconi Foundation is presenting a group show of small-format works from Giorgio Marconi’s collection. Occupying...
18 Nov 2015 - 23 Jan 2016
Fondazione Marconi
Milan
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Leila Heller Gallery Dubai presents a new exhibition/installation at the offsite space at Alserkal Warehouse....
14 Mar 2016 - 01 Apr 2016
Alserkal Avenue Warehouse, Al Quoz 1, Dubai UAE
Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi
Exhibitions
L’Inarchiviabile/The Unarchivable
FM Centre for Contemporary Art opens on April 7, 2016 with the exhibition L’Inarchiviabile/The...
08 Apr 2016 - 15 Jun 2016
FM Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea
Milan
Exhibitions
Imagine. New Imagery in Italian Art 1960-1969
Pendant to the exhibition of 2014 dedicated to Azimut/H, which investigated the monochrome and the ‘zeroing’...
23 Apr 2016 - 19 Sep 2016
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Venice
Exhibitions
A Poor Art
With “A poor art”, a multidisciplinary and innovative event, the Centre Pompidou proposes...
08 Jun 2016 - 29 Aug 2016
Centre Pompidou
Paris
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace
The Blenheim Art Foundation presents “Michelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace”, a solo...
15 Sep 2016 - 31 Dec 2016
Blenheim Palace
United Kingdom
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: Respect
From 20 October to 23 December 2016, Vnh Gallery & Galleria Continuawill present “Respect”,...
20 Oct 2016 - 23 Dec 2016
VNH Gallery
Paris
Exhibitions
Toda Percepción es una Interpretación: You are Part of It
World-renowned curators Eugenio Valdes Figueroa and Katrin Steffen come together for CIFO’s ever-awaited...
30 Nov 2016 - 12 Mar 2017
Miami
Exhibitions
Una Red de Líneas que se Entersecan / A Network of Lines that Intersect
This project explores some of the different ways to assemble an exhibition. The first curatorial selection...
24 Nov 2016 - 28 Feb 2017
Mexico City
Exhibitions
Una colletiva
The gallery’s second exhibition of this year is dedicated to the own represented artists: Accardi,...
16 Mar 2017 - 15 Apr 2017
Tonelli
Milan
Exhibitions
Pistoletto
Galleria Christian Stein is dedicating a monographic exhibition to the artist in both its venues, Monforte...
25 May 2017 - 21 Oct 2017
Milan
Exhibitions
Margherita Stein: Rebel With a Cause
Magazzino Italian Art is a new warehouse art space in the Hudson Valley devoted to Postwar and Contemporary...
28 Jun 2017 - 01 Aug 2017
Magazzino Italian Art
New York
Exhibitions
Continua Sphères Ensemble
Under the artistic direction of José-Manuel Gonçalvès, over twenty galleries and foundations from...
16 Sep 2017 - 19 Nov 2017
Centquatre – Paris
Paris
Exhibitions
Cutting Through Time. Highlights from the Castello di Rivoli Collection
The Castello di Rivoli offers a fascinating journey of “re-discovering” contemporary art in a regal...
04 Jun 2017 - 31 Dec 2017
Castello di Rivoli
Turin
Exhibitions
Emilio Isgrò – Michelangelo Pistoletto. Arte Cittadinanza Rigenerazione
On the occasion of Milan Art Week, La Triennale di Milano hosts a public meeting with Emilio Isgrò and...
11 Apr 2018 - 11 Apr 2018
Triennale di Milano
Milan
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: Love Difference
The work was mounted in the “Salone delle danze” of Palazzo Sant’Elia. The initiative...
01 Oct 2018 - 31 Dec 2018
Palazzo Sant’Elia
Palermo
Exhibitions
Michelangelo Pistoletto: Comunicazione. Le porte di Cittadellarte
After fifty years of collaboration, the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto fills the spaces of Giorgio Persano...
18 Oct 2018 - 26 Jan 2019
Giorgio Persano
Turin
Exhibitions
Ways of Seeing
The collective exhibition is curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, founders of the multi-disciplinary...
03 Sep 2018 - 05 Jan 2019
The NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery
Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi
Exhibitions
Gallery Focus: Galleria dell’Ariete. Una storia documentaria
The collective exhibition “Galleria dell’Ariete. Una storia documentaria” (“Galleria...
24 Mar 2019 - 02 Jun 2019
ICA Milano
Milan
Exhibitions
May You Live in Interesting Times at the Foot of Hills. How to Lie Low and Ski at Once. The Piedmont Pavilion
Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art and Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation present “The...
08 May 2019 - 20 Jul 2019
Combo Venezia
Venice
Exhibitions
Racing the Galaxy
Gathering works by 20 artists from 15 countries, “Racing the Galaxy” deals with the gradual dissolution...
03 Jul 2019 - 30 Aug 2019
Palace of Independence
Kazakhstan
Exhibitions
Can It Really Be 20 Years Already? Art in Our Times, Contemporary Masters, and Philanthropy
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse presents its 20th Year Anniversary of public exhibitions with...
31 Oct 2019 - 31 Oct 2020
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse
Miami
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