The Collection
Sonnabend Collection
A new museum of contemporary art is born around one of the most significant private art collections of the 20th century — the Sonnabend Collection, permanently housed in Mantua’s restored Palazzo della Ragione.
Developed through the vision of art dealer and collector Ileana Sonnabend (1914–2007), her husband Michael Sonnabend (1900–2001), and their adopted son Antonio Homem, the collection stands as a crucial testimony to the artistic movements that defined the latter half of the twentieth century.
Through their galleries in Paris and New York, the Sonnabends played a pivotal role in bringing American art to Europe and European artists to America.
The project is promoted by the City of Mantua in partnership with the Sonnabend Collection Foundation and Marsilio Arte, which will oversee the museum’s overall management — from organization and communication to publishing projects and bookstore coordination.
Opening on Saturday, November 29, at the renovated Palazzo della Ragione, the Sonnabend Collection Mantova presents the extraordinary collection assembled by gallerist Ileana Sonnabend, who reshaped the international art scene by bridging America and Europe.
The exhibition features some of the most important private holdings of the past century. Developed through Sonnabend’s visionary eye and her commitment to artists across generations, the collection includes emblematic works of Pop Art, Minimalism, Arte Povera, photography, and performance.
Iconic American masterpieces — Figure 8 by Jasper Johns, Little Aloha by Roy Lichtenstein, Campbell’s Soup by Andy Warhol, and Kite by Robert Rauschenberg (winner of the 1964 Venice Biennale Golden Lion) — are shown alongside works by Jim Dine, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann, and Italian contemporaries like Michelangelo Pistoletto and Mario Schifano.
The journey continues with essential works from the 1960s and 1970s, from Minimalism (Donald Judd, Robert Morris) to Arte Povera, which Sonnabend was among the first to exhibit in New York, featuring Giovanni Anselmo, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Giulio Paolini and Gilberto Zorio.
Her interest in photography and performance is reflected in collaborations with Bernd & Hilla Becher, Luigi Ontani, Vito Acconci, Gilbert & George, Candida Höfer, and Matthias Schaller.
The collection concludes with major figures of the 1980s, including Jörg Immendorff, Anselm Kiefer, A.R. Penck, Jeff Koons and Haim Steinbach.
Artistic Director Mario Codognato notes:
“Michael and Ileana Sonnabend always had a deep bond with Italy, a country they knew and loved with a unique and surprising perspective. It is therefore deeply meaningful that their remarkable collection finds its home here, in Mantua. Michael’s profound knowledge of Dante makes Palazzo della Ragione — a 13th-century building — an almost fated setting. Ileana, meanwhile, was instrumental in introducing postwar Italian artists to the United States, and this homage represents a natural continuation of her story.”
Exhibition design by unostudio
Main sponsor: BPER Banca
