Palazzo Reale Milan presents ‘Aprire Le Porte Della Notte’ - a monumental retrospective dedicated to the twentieth century’s ultimate avant-garde iconoclast

EXHIBITION SPOTLIGHT

Palazzo Reale, Milan | 9 October 2026 – 24 January 2027
Curated by Anne Berest Picabia

This autumn, Milan’s historic Palazzo Reale unveils Picabia. Aprire Le Porte Della Notte (Open the Gates of Night)—the most comprehensive Italian exhibition to date honoring Francis Picabia (1879–1953). A foundational figure of modernism whose oeuvre defies simple categorization, Picabia navigated the visual landscape of the twentieth century with audacious fluidity and unyielding aesthetic ambition.

Promoted by the City of Milan - Culture Department and co-produced by Palazzo Reale alongside MADEINART - under the distinguished patronage of the Consulate General of France and the Institut Français - the curation is helmed by Anne Berest Picabia. As the artist’s great-granddaughter and co-author of the celebrated historical biography Gabriële (a New York Times Top Ten selection), Berest Picabia brings an intimate, nuanced narrative to the grand scale of the institution.

A Life Lived in Perpetual Motion

Born in Paris to a Spanish father and French mother, Picabia moved effortlessly across the cultural capitals of the era: New York, Barcelona, Zurich, Paris, and the French Riviera. His orbit encompassed luminaries such as Marcel Duchamp, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Isadora Duncan, and Erik Satie. Refusing to anchor himself to any single doctrine, he journeyed fluidly through Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, and Dada, establishing early milestones in pure abstraction alongside Kandinsky and Malevich. A relentlessly inventive creator, Picabia made stylistic reinvention his primary signature. The moment his visual dialect verged on recognition, he systematically abandoned it to pioneer new territories—a habit of radical transformation that continues to resonate across contemporary art and design discourse.

An Unprecedented Assembly

The exhibition gathers over 170 masterworks sourced from premier international institutions and private vaults - including the Centre Pompidou, MAM Paris, Kunsthaus Zürich, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, and the MART Rovereto (Gian Enzo Sperone Collection). Abandoning traditional linear chronologies, the curation structures Picabia’s narrative thematic elements to highlight the enduring conceptual threads beneath his diverse periods.

Enhancing the retrospective are rare personal archives, vintage photo albums, and correspondence generously provided by the Picabia family and the Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques-Doucet, along with crucial scholarship supported by the Comité Picabia.

Sensory Journeys & The Art of the Night

Designed as an immersive sensory experience, the exhibition explores the vital impulses of Picabia's life: passion, movement, music, wartime displacement, and collaborative creation. Taking inspiration from its title, the spatial layout guides visitors through the symbolic hours of the night—a space where Picabia sought to double the intensity of human experience.

“For him, it was not enough simply to live; one had to live twice—by day and by night, with style, transforming existence into a celebration, into an adventure pursued to the point of ecstasy.” — Anne Berest Picabia

Accompanying the exhibition is a collector’s catalogue published by Skira, featuring critical essays, archival documentation, and rich iconography that offer sophisticated entry points into Picabia’s multi-layered world.

Biographical Timeline: Francis Picabia

• 1879–1908: Born in Paris; studies under Cormon and Humbert before mastering Impressionist, Fauvist, and Neo-Impressionist techniques.
• 1909–1914: Co-develops abstract Cubism; aligns with the Puteaux Group alongside Duchamp; debuts in New York at the landmark 1913 Armory Show.
• 1915–1921: Initiates his mechanomorphic period; spearheads Dada activities across New York, Barcelona, Zurich, and Paris; launches the avant-garde journal 391.
• 1922–1939: Relocates to the French Riviera; breaks with Dada and Surrealism to explore figurative imagery, transparency, and vibrant social commentary.
• 1945–1953: Returns to Paris post-war; continues innovating minimalist abstraction and poetry until his passing in 1953.