Initiatives

Fondazione Hillary Merkus Recordati centers its activities on supporting contemporary creativity, working closely with the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. It contributes to scheduled exhibitions and, more broadly, to the Palazzo Strozzi Future Art project. Launched in 2021, this project is dedicated to producing and promoting contemporary art through commissioning new works and creating initiatives aimed at new generations of Italian and international artists.

Among the complted initiatives are JR. LA FERITA (March 19–August 29, 2021), a site-specific installation for the façade of Palazzo Strozzi, whose image became one of the most globally viral artworks of 2021; ALTER EVA. Natura Potere Corpo (October 28–December 12, 2021), an exhibition dedicated to six Italian female artists under 40, held in the Strozzina spaces of Palazzo Strozzi; Let’s Get Digital! (May 18–July 31, 2022), focusing on the revolution of NFT art and the new frontiers between the real and digital realms; Olafur Eliasson: Nel tuo tempo (September 22, 2022–January 29, 2023); Reaching for the Stars. Da Maurizio Cattelan a Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (March 4–June 18, 2023); Yan Pei-Ming. Pittore di storie (July 7–September 3, 2023); Anish Kapoor. Untrue. Unreal (October 7, 2023–February 4, 2024); Anselm Kiefer. Angeli caduti (March 22–July 28, 2024), and Helen Frankenthaler. Painting without rules (September 27, 2024 - February 02, 2025).

Andy Bianchedi with Arturo Galansino, the artists of the exhibition Alter Eva. Natura Potere Corpo, and several members of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi staff.

In primo piano

Teatro delle Relazioni

7.11.2024 - 20.12. 2024 | 28.11.2024 - 30.11.2024

A special project that connects IED Florence and Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi through an exhibition and a series of performances reflecting on the concept of community, featuring works by contemporary Italian artists and collectives in collaboration with Fondazione Hillary Merkus Recordati.

DRIFT - Shy Society

23.10.2024 - 26.01.2025

From October 23, 2024, to January 26, 2025, as part of the Palazzo Strozzi Future Art program in collaboration with the Fondazione Hillary Merkus Recordati, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi presents Shy Society, a spectacular, site-specific outdoor installation for the Palazzo Strozzi courtyard by the Dutch artist-duo DRIFT, renowned for interdisciplinary installations, artworks and performances that blend art and technology.

Helen Frankenthaler. Painting without rules

27.09.2024 - 02.02.2025

From 27 September 2024 to 2 February 2025 at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without Rules explores the poetic abstractions of one of the most significant American artists of the twentieth century in the biggest exhibition ever dedicated in Italy.

Anselm Kiefer. Fallen Angels

22.03.2024 - 28.07.2024

In Spring 2024, Palazzo Strozzi hosted a major exhibition dedicated to one of the greatest masters of the 20th and 21st century art, Anselm Kiefer. Renowned for his impactful works that explore themes of memory, myth, war, and existence through painting, sculpture, and installation, Kiefer presented historical works and new productions at Palazzo Strozzi, engaging in a unique dialogue with the Renaissance architecture.

Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal

07.10.2023 - 04.02.2024

Starting from October 7, 2023 Palazzo Strozzi in Florence is pleased to announce a new major exhibition devised and produced with Anish Kapoor, celebrated artist who has revolutionised the notion of sculpture in contemporary art. Curated by Arturo Galansino, Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, the show will feature monumental installations, intimate environments and thought-provoking forms that will forge an original and captivating dialogue with the architecture and audience of Palazzo Strozzi.

Yan Pei-Ming. Painter histories

07.07.2023 - 03.09.2023

From 7 July to 3 September 2023 Palazzo Strozzi hosts Yan Pei-Ming, Painting Histories, the largest exhibition ever devoted to this Franco-Chinese artist in Italy and part of the Palazzo Strozzi Future Art project developed in partnership with the Fondazione Hillary Merkus Recordati. Renowned for a profound and passionate reflection on painting in today’s art, Yan Pei-Ming combines history and contemporaneity, famous works of art, public figures and intimate subjects in his monumental canvases.

Reaching for the Stars. From Maurizio Cattelan to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

04.03.2023 - 18.06.2023

From 4 March 2023 Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi hosts the exhibition entitled Reaching for the Stars. From Maurizio Cattelan to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye showcasing major works by such leading international contemporary artists as Maurizio Cattelan, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst, Lara Favaretto, Cindy Sherman, William Kentridge, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Josh Kline, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Rudolf Stingel to celebrate in Florence the 30th anniversary of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection, one of the most famous and prestigious collections of contemporary art in Italy.

Olafur Eliasson: Nel tuo tempo

22.09.2022 - 22.01.2023

Starting 22 September 2022 the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi hosted Olafur Eliasson: Nel tuo tempo, the largest exhibition in Italy to date exploring the art of Olafur Eliasson. One of the most original and visionary artists of our time, Eliasson’s multifaceted practice placed the visitor at the heart of his reflection on the notion of shared experience and interaction with reality.

Let's Get Digital!

18.05.2022 - 31.07.2022

From May 18 to July 31, 2022, Palazzo Strozzi presented Let's Get Digital!, a new exhibition project that brought to the spaces of the Strozzina and the courtyard the art revolution of NFTs and the new frontiers between real and digital through the works of international artists such as Refik Anadol, Anyma, Daniel Arsham, Beeple, Krista Kim and Andrés Reisinger.

Alter Eva. Natura Potere Corpo

28.10.2021 - 12.12.2021

Amidst sculptures, paintings, photography and installations, the ALTER EVA exhibition featured the works of six Italian artists: Camilla Alberti, Irene Coppola, Martina Melilli, Margherita Moscardini, Marta Roberti, and Silvia Rosi, stimulating, from a female point of view, a reflection on the future founded on new principles of natural and social cohabitation.

JR. La Ferita

19.03.2021 - 22.08.2021

One of the world's most famous contemporary artists, JR was asked to reinterpret the façade of a symbol of the Renaissance in Florence with a new work curated by Arturo Galansino (general director, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi), who proposed a reflection on the accessibility of cultural sites in the age of the Covid-19 virus.