Alice Neel and Piotr Uklański

Alice Neel: I Am the Century
This autumn, Pinacoteca Agnelli will present the first retrospective in Italy dedicated to American artist Alice Neel (Merion Square, PA, 1900–New York, NY, 1984), one of the most significant painters of the 20th century. Curated by Sarah Cosulich and Pietro Rigolo, I Am the Century will highlight Neel’s pioneering gaze and interest in humanity in all its forms.

Alice Neel’s trailblazing approach to portraiture touched upon fundamental human, social and political issues. Merging realism with surrealism and a critical gaze with empathic brushstrokes, Neel succeeded in reading the human soul in its most hidden folds. Due to her unique painting style – characterized by a spontaneous and yet precise way of conveying the essence and inner character of her sitters – Neel’s work continues to influence generations of artists today. 

Spanning seven decades of the 20th century, the exhibition at Pinacoteca Agnelli will delve into the idea of Neel as a “chronicler of life”, and of her paintings as representations of the “human comedy”. Structured into six chapters, chronologically intertwined with the artist’s biography, I Am the Century will highlight Neel’s unique relationship with her subjects and their life stories. The exhibition will trace the artist’s style as it evolved over time, while indirectly emphasising how her revolutionary practice confronts the art historical canon and traditionally male perspective of portraiture.

Piotr Uklański: Faux Amis
Conceived as a new chapter of the exhibition series Beyond the Collection, Pinacoteca Agnelli will present an exhibition of Polish artist Piotr Uklański. 

Invited to develop a project that engages with Pinacoteca’s Permanent Collection, Piotr Uklański chose to interact with the entire Scrigno Gallery, in a provocative game of associations, references and relationships with his own paintings, installations and photographs. In the project entitled Faux Amis (false friends)—a French expression referring to words in different languages that sound similar but have different meanings—Uklański sets his works in dialogue with those of Bernardo Bellotto, Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Antonio Canova and Édouard Manet. He draws out similarities often based on genre, as well as formal and iconographic references, pointing to complex, layered readings of art history. With an approach he himself describes as “cannibalistic”, Uklański sifts through art history, drawing sustenance from centuries of work produced by the artists who preceded him. Faux Amis underscores the importance of studying and understanding art history within contemporary practice, offering unexpected perspectives on the masterpieces of the Permanent Collection. The exhibition will be complemented by two interventions by the artist at the Museo di Anatomia Umana Luigi Rolando and the Museo della Frutta Francesco Garnier Valletti in Turin.

Launched in 2022, Beyond the Collection is a project aimed at reactivating Pinacoteca Agnelli’s Permanent Collection by commissioning artistic interventions by contemporary artists and collaborations with prestigious national and international institutions, based on key loans. Through the project, selected works from the Collection become focal points for new displays and narratives that reinterpret Pinacoteca’s historical heritage and bring forgotten stories and figures to light.

New curatorial team
On June 1, 2025, Pinacoteca Agnelli welcomed Nicola Trezzi (1982, Magenta, Italy) as Curator and Raphaële Sevrain (1998, Paris, France) as Assistant Curator to its curatorial team. Trezzi, formerly at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Sevrain, who gained previous curatorial experience in England and Italy, will join Director Sarah Cosulich and Chief Curator Pietro Rigolo, who returned to Italy in January 2025 after several years at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. 

About Pinacoteca and La Pista 500
Located in the former FIAT car factory of Lingotto in Turin, Pinacoteca Agnelli was relaunched in 2022 with a new contemporary mission. The exhibition programme comprises temporary exhibitions and outdoor site-specific installations on La Pista 500, the car testing track on the building’s rooftop, now a suspended garden. Pinacoteca Agnelli also features an important Permanent Collection with masterpieces by artists such as Canova, Canaletto, Picasso, Manet, Modigliani and Matisse. The new identity of Pinacoteca creates a link between past and present, through its direct dialogue with the unique history, architecture and legacy of the Lingotto building that houses the institution.

Press contacts
International—Sam Talbot
Kitty Malton, kitty@sam-talbot.com, T +44 7514803577.

Italy—PCM Studio di Paola C. Manfredi
Francesca Ceriani, francesca@paolamanfredi.com, T +39 340 9182004.