Chengdu, 8 August 2025 – Opening of the exhibition with more than 60 masterpieces from the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino (GAM), on display for the first time in China.
On Friday, 8 August, the Chengdu Art Museum in China hosted the inauguration of the exhibition Encounters from Afar: Masterpieces from the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino, a project conceived to mark the fifty-fifth anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and the People’s Republic of China, organised and produced by Palatina Cultural Group in collaboration with Villaggio Globale International.
The inauguration was attended by numerous guests of honour, including Fabio Schina, Consul General of Italy in Chongqing; Tang Fei, Director of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage; Angela Benotto, Head of External Relations and International Activities of the Fondazione Torino Musei; as well as many representatives from the museum and art world of the city of Chengdu and the province of Sichuan.
The event opened with a violin and guitar duet by musicians Wang Weizhi and Joseph Perez Mirandilla, evoking the work on display Lezione di musica (1894) by Giuseppe Ricci. Speeches by the guests of honour were followed by a symbolic group ceremony featuring a reproduction of Giacomo Balla’s Motivo decorativo floreale (c. 1925). The inauguration concluded with a guided tour of the exhibition led by its curator, Professor Alessandro Botta, broadcast live by CCTV New Media.
The inauguration coincided with the first day of the exhibition’s opening to the public, which welcomed over 2,300 visitors. The advanced ticket sales of 15,124 purchased prior to the opening bear witness to the Chinese public’s keen interest in engaging directly with the significant collection of masterpieces from the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino, and with renowned figures in the history of European art, including Boldini, Balla, de Chirico, Morandi, Renoir, Picasso, and many others.
Encounters from Afar will be on view at the Chengdu Art Museum, in the Tianfu Art Park, until 16 November 2025.