It can be a pleasant surprise, while admiring precious artworks in a museum, to discover that all of this was possible also thanks to the support of an institution that apparently has nothing to do with art, a bank.
Switzerland's leading bank UBS has developed a program with various initiatives to value a significant piece of Italy's artistic heritage, the Modern Art Gallery of Milan (Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Milano, or GAM).
"We wanted to enhance one of the most significant historical, architectural and artistic jewels of this city," UBS Head of Marketing Latin America, Mediterranean, Africa and Middle East Stefano Satta told Xinhua at a recent ceremony held to celebrate the results of one year's partnership.
For over 150 years, Satta illustrated, UBS has pursued its vocation of providing advice and services for the management of private wealth, aware that "there can be no sustainable future without culture," and therefore actively supporting activities related to the world of art.
The GAM, founded in 1865 and belonging to the Milan municipality, contains about 4,000 works, coming from gifts and acquisitions, over 600 of which are exhibited. The museum is located inside the Royal Villa (Villa Reale), one of the masterpieces of Milanese Neoclassical architecture.
The chronological sequence, GAM curator Paola Zatti explained to Xinhua, begins with works from the Neoclassical age and ends with paintings and sculptures from different 19th and 20th century movements, namely Historical Romanticism, Scapigliatura, Realism and Divisionism.
Thanks to the support of UBS, the museum carried out the outfitting of some valuable works of Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso and of two notable collections, the Grassi collection and the Vismara collection, donated to GAM by local philanthropists in the second half of 20th century.
The two collections are displayed on the second floor in the modern arrangement designed in the 1950s by Italian architect Ignazio Gardella, and include works by Umberto Boccioni, Edouard Manet, Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Pablo Picasso amongst others.
Not only UBS is global lead partner of Art Basel, the world's premier art show for modern and contemporary works, but the bank owns a collection of more than 35,000 works, ranging from 1960 onward and known for being one of the largest corporate collections of contemporary art in Europe.
Earlier this year, GAM borrowed some works from the UBS collection to host an exhibition dedicated to works on paper, including both autonomous pieces and studies leading to other types of work, like painting or sculpture. Other joint initiatives included guided visits and conferences.
"The collaboration between UBS and GAM is an important example of how public-private alliances can help promote the valorization of cultural treasures," Milan Culture Councillor Filippo Del Corno said at the ceremony.
Other recent projects in the Italian business capital include a partnership between the Milan Stock Exchange (Borsa Italiana) and the Brera Art Gallery, which contains one of the foremost collections of paintings in Italy, to encourage companies to finance the restoration of valuable artworks.
"This kind of partnerships in recent times have become a reference model for the development of Milan and of the entire country," Del Corno said, referring to the inestimable cultural patrimony of Italy, which "must be an important driver for economic and social development."
