“Margherita Grassini Sarfatti was a woman of extraordinary strength, sophisticated culture and authentic intelligence”: with her determined and cosmopolitan culture as an ante litteram feminist, Margherita Sarfatti in the exhibition, subverted the role of ‘gender’ with calm determination, becoming a contemporary and progressive personality. The exhibition Margherita Sarfatti and art in Italy between the wars curated by Fabio Benzis lifts the curtain on the private collection of one of the most influential personalities of 20th century culture: Sarfatti’s artistic tastes often favoured ‘modern’ and fashionable artists, even if they were controversial and, In parallel with her critical activity, Sarfatti saw the formation of her own collection through a nucleus of works by Mario Sironi, Adolfo Wildt, Medardo Rosso, Umberto Boccioni and Gaetano Previati, as well as earlier artists, in particular Milanese Scapigliati and one of the greatest Italian artists of the century, Giorgio de Chirico, whose unpublished 1927 portrait dedicated “to the most gracious Signora Margherita Sarfatti” is on show. On show are more than fifty works by contemporary artists close to Margherita Sarfatti, including Mario Sironi, Umberto Boccioni, Filippo De Pisis, Corrado Cagli, André Derain, Alberto Salietti, Fausto Pirandello, Achille Funi and Pasquarosa (the only female artist in the exhibition).
