Exhibition · A Arte Invernizzi · Milano
On Thursday, 21 May 2026, A arte Invernizzi opened the exhibition François Morellet | Gianni Colombo, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero. The exhibition marks the launch of the national project ∞François Morellet∞ Centenario in Italia 1926 - 2026, coordinated by A arte Invernizzi in close collaboration with the Estate Morellet, to mark the centenary of the French artist’s birth. Throughout the year, a series of exhibitions and events are planned to pay tribute to Morellet in a country where he exhibited for the first time in 1960 at the Galleria Azimut (Milan) – at the invitation of Piero Manzoni – and where the last exhibition he curated took place at A arte Invernizzi in 2016, opening shortly after his death. The exhibition aims to explore the relationship between Gianni Colombo (Milan, 1937 - Melzo, 1993) and François Morellet (Cholet, 1926-2016) – two leading figures in the international art world – who shared a mutual respect and friendship from the 1960s onwards. A relationship that inevitably led to new connections and collaborations: Epicarmo and Tiziana Invernizzi met François and Danielle Morellet through Gianni Colombo in the 1980s. It is for these reasons, including personal and private ones, that we have chosen, through this double solo exhibition – organised in collaboration with the Archivio Gianni Colombo and the Estate Morellet – to highlight and commemorate the bond between two pioneers of international art and Italy, and in particular with A arte Invernizzi, which has always enjoyed a special relationship with both artists. The portrait that Morellet dedicated to Colombo dates from 1987 and serves as a threshold that unveils the exhibition route: the lines on the surface of the work connect, in pairs, the letters of a double alphabet arranged along two adjacent sides of a square, generating a grid formed by intersecting lines that spell out the name “Gianni Colombo”. These lines, along the flight of stairs connecting the gallery’s levels, become…