Encounters from Afar

Over 60 works from the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino (GAM) are on view for the first time in China at the Chengdu Art Museum.

The exhibition Encounters from Afar: Masterpieces from the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino celebrates the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and the People’s Republic of China. It charts the evolution of Italian and European modern art from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, beginning with Romanticism and Impressionism and reaching the avant-gardes of the 20th century. Encounters from Afar invites visitors on a captivating journey through the great transformations of modern painting, guided by paintings and works on paper that span over one hundred years of art history, from Portrait of Carolina Zucchi by Francesco Hayez (c. 1825) to People in the street by Renato Guttuso (1956–1957).

The works from the GAM in Turin, one of the most important and renowned collections in Italy, include some of the most celebrated and representative pieces by Italian artists such as Giovanni Boldini, Giacomo Balla, Giorgio de Chirico, and Giorgio Morandi, presented alongside European masters including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Johannes Itten, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and many others. This carefully curated selection of masterpieces is travelling to China for the very first time, offering audiences a rare opportunity to engage in dialogue with European artists of the past, sharing sensations and reflections on the everyday life.

The exhibition, a collaboration with Villaggio Globale International, is under the guidance of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage and the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, and is supported by the Embassy of Italy in Beijing, the Consulate General of Italy in Chongqing, the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing, and the City of Turin.