Emerging simultaneously in several artistic centres across Italy, Arte Povera was brought together in September 1967 by art historian and critic Germano Celant. The movement united a group of artists who shared a common desire to challenge the cultural industry and, more broadly, consumer society, adopting a strategy akin to guerrilla warfare in response to the dominance of American art at the time.
This talk will explore the profound impact of both the concept and the movement’s resolutely revolutionary spirit through the work of some of the most inventive and influential artists of our time.
Among its leading figures are 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.
Bernard Blistène will present works by these artists, brought together especially for the occasion by Tornabuoni Arte R+M Gallery in Crans-Montana.
Bernard Blistène is Honorary Director of the Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou. He has recently written and published several works on Italian art and Arte Povera, including Arte Povera (Galerie Tornabuoni, Paris, Forma Edizioni, 2025). Together with Dominique Païni, he is currently preparing a published conversation on The Pictorial Work of Michelangelo Antonioni, due to appear this autumn.
His most recent publication is a monograph on the Romanian artist Stefan Bertalan (1930–2014), In Tune with the World (Art Encounters Editor, MARe, Esther Schipper, Timișoara, Bucharest, Paris, 2025).
CHF 10.– per person | Free for Friends of Fondation Opale, members of the Club de la Toula, and with Abobo
Booking recommended: online ticketing
