Experience the Full Breadth of Morandi's Artistic Legacy

The Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) has announced that "Giorgio Morandi. Solo," the largest and most comprehensive Giorgio Morandi exhibition of the 21st century, will open on June 17 and run through October 2026.

Presented in partnership with the Museo Morandi in Bologna, Italy, the exhibition will bring together over 200 works from 39 institutions and private collections worldwide, featuring more than 140 original artworks by the iconic Italian painter.

Of the works on display, over 120 will be shown in China for the first time.

A once-in-a-lifetime gathering of masterworks

The exhibition will unveil several extraordinary rarities from Morandi's oeuvre, including his only known seascape, one of merely seven self-portraits he ever painted, and a portrait of his sister never before exhibited publicly.

Visitors will also encounter one of only 12 metaphysical paintings Morandi created during his brief engagement with the Pittura Metafisica movement, alongside his wartime shell paintings and rarely seen watercolors – works that provide crucial insight into his practice during periods of profound historical upheaval.

Adding to the historical significance of the exhibition, MAP will display Morandi's personal star-wheel etching press, on loan from the descendants of his friend and classmate Francesco Bagnaresi. The press has not left Bologna since 1993.

Beyond the "bottles and jars"

While Morandi is globally recognized for his muted still-lifes of bottles and jars, "Giorgio Morandi. Solo" challenges this singular perception by presenting the artist in his full complexity.

Organized into more than 30 thematic sections, the exhibition traces Morandi's complete creative trajectory across oil paintings, etchings, and watercolors, encompassing still lifes, landscapes, self-portraits, family portraits, flowers, and shells.

The exhibition also delves into the world-famous "Morandi colors" – the restrained, low-saturation palette of grays, off-whites, dusty pinks, pale browns, and muted blue-grays that have become a universal language of sophisticated design, influencing everything from haute couture to interior architecture.

Inside Morandi's private world

Through 57 rare photographs of his studios on Via Fondazza in Bologna and his mountain retreat in Grizzana, the exhibition transports visitors into the intimate spaces where Morandi lived and worked. In a remarkable curatorial decision, the actual objects from his studio – the vases, artificial flowers, and tin cans that repeatedly appear in his paintings – will be displayed alongside the artworks they inspired, allowing viewers to witness firsthand Morandi's unique interpretation of object, light, and time.

The exhibition will also present original books, documents, and personal letters from Morandi's archive, revealing an artist who, despite his famously reclusive life, remained deeply engaged with art history, literature and Eastern art.

A living legacy

The enduring contemporary relevance of Morandi's work is further underscored by the inclusion of two video installations by renowned British artist Tacita Dean, demonstrating the Italian icon's continued influence on contemporary artistic practice.

If you go:

Date: June 17-October, 10am-9pm (last entry at 8pm)

Admission: 100-150 yuan

Venue: Museum of Art Pudong 浦东美术馆

Address: 2777 Binjiang Avenue

滨江大道2777号