THE COLLECTION

Ever since the creation of the Museum, the Permanent Collection has been the lynchpin from which all the institutional activity depends. The inauguration of 1984, supported by the Ouverture exhibition curated by the Museum’s then director, Rudi Fuchs, and planned as a model for an international collection arranged within the historic rooms on the first and second floor, laid the bases for what has over the years become the permanent collection.

 

One of the specific aspects of the Castello di Rivoli’s collection arises from the close relationship the Museum has set up with the artists. It is of vital importance to be able to choose the most representative works with them and display them to best effect. This close relationship between Museum and artist has over years led to the production of large permanent installations, specially made for the Castello in a perfect dialogue with the prestigious architectural vestiges of the historic Residence.

 

The collection is constantly enriched through the commitment to acquire works in accordance with four key concepts: adherence to the Museum’s activities, international significance, attention to the latest research and the selection of the finest pieces in each artist’s œuvre. The collection documents the crucial moments in the development of contemporary art in Italy and abroad from the mid-1960s to the latest trends. Together with the sizeable number of Arte Povera works, the heart of the collection comprises works from the Transavanguardia, Minimal, Body and Land Art and other movements and on to the most recent international trends. Ranging through these various themes and areas, the largest contemporary art collection in Italy has been built up over the years. The process must continue by keeping an eye on the present, on history, memory, society and, above all, by looking into the future.

 

Every work is a representation of something, different to the thing in itself, and this specific difference is its raison d’être.