arte povera

The term “Arte Povera” was coined in 1967 by Germano Celant, who continued to use it throughout his entire career to refer to the pioneering new work that started to emerge on the Italian art scene in the second half of the 1960s. While not constituting a fully-fledged work group or artistic current, Arte Povera quickly came to the world’s attention as the principal Italian avant-garde movement of the second half of the 20th century. The meaning of Arte Povera cannot be reduced to an anti-technological, artisanal stance and poor materials. Through their vitalistic approach to creating, the artists belonging to the movement expanded the horizons of the materials and procedures used, enhancing the intrinsic qualities of the medium, in both physical and mental terms.  Over the years, the Olgiati Collection has acquired a corpus of important works by the entire Arte Povera group: Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Gilberto Zorio.