Depero at the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan

From 13 February to 2 August 2026, the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan, in collaboration with the Mart - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, hosts the exhibition Depero Space to Space. The creation of memory, curated by Nicoletta Boschiero and Antonio D'Amico. The exhibition is part of the official calendar of the Milano Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympiad and is organized under the patronage of ENIT, the Lombardy Region, the Autonomous Province of Trento, the Municipality of Milan and the Municipality of Rovereto.

The project highlights an evocative parallelism between the brothers Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi and Fortunato Depero: personalities distant in time but united by the same vision, that of creating environments in which art becomes an integral part of the inhabited space, suspended between historical memory and modernity.

The exhibition marks Fortunato Depero's return to Milan after 35 years since his last major retrospective and offers an unprecedented exhibition itinerary, in which over forty works created between the thirties and fifties dialogue with the permanent collection of the house museum. The works, coming from the Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero and the Mart, are inserted in the rooms of the Bagatti Valsecchi thanks to a site-specific installation designed and conceived to enhance the relationship between work, space and time.

The comparison between the Casa Bagatti Valsecchi, a neo-Renaissance residence conceived at the end of the nineteenth century as a synthesis between past and innovation, and Casa Depero, a futurist museum set up by the artist in the fifties in a historic building, becomes the conceptual fulcrum of the exhibition. In both cases, tradition dialogues with modernity: the Bagatti Valsecchi brothers integrated cutting-edge technologies for the time such as running water and electricity; Depero placed contemporary works in an ancient architectural context, obtaining a radically original result.

The itinerary pays homage to the versatility of Depero, artist, designer, set designer and planner, who has always been interested in the preparation of spaces and protagonist of important international exhibitions, from the Monza Biennials to the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925. His bond with Milan, the city of choice that hosted some fundamental stages of his career, from the solo exhibition in 1946 to the historic retrospective in 1989 at the Villa Reale, is also central.

Some rooms of the exhibition are sounded by Gaetano Cappa of the Barlumen Institute, amplifying the immersive experience and sensory dialogue with the works. The tour ends with the re-enactment of the legendary ViBiBar - Vino Birra Bar, decorated by Depero in 1937, which comes back to life through a series of special events: five evenings between February and July transform the museum into an elegant futuristic bar, with live jazz music and an aperitif inspired by the convivial spirit of the artist (dates ViBiBar Depero. The Futurist aperitif at the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum: 13 February, 26 March, 16 April, 7 May, 2 July; two shifts: 6.00 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.). The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale, with critical contributions by scholars and curators.

EXHIBITION INFORMATION Depero Space to Space. The creation of memory

• Location: Bagatti Valsecchi Museum - Via Gesù 5, Milan.
• Dates: February 13 - August 2, 2026.
• Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00 | closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
• Tickets: Full price: 14 €; Reduced: 10 €; Children 6–17 years: €2. Free admission for children up to 5 years old, people with disabilities and other categories.
• Info and reservations: T: (+39) 02 7600.6132; www.museobagattivalsecchi.org.