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), Helen Frankenthaler. Painting without rules (September 27, 2024 - February 02, 2025), Tracey Emin. Sex and Solitude (March 16, 2025 - July 20, 2025), Beato Angelico, (September 26, 2025 - January 25, 2026) Rothko in Florence (March 14 - August 23, 2026).
Initiatives
Andy Bianchedi with Arturo Galansino, the artists of the exhibition Alter Eva. Natura Potere Corpo, and several members of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi staff.
14.04.2026 - 02.08.2026
From 14 April to 2 August 2026, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Fondazione Hillary Merkus Recordati present There Are Other Fish In The Sea, a new site-specific installation for the Courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi by SUPERFLEX, the internationally recognised Danish collective known for works and long-term projects that rethink the role of art in relation to the social, economic, and environmental dynamics of our time.
The installation is produced in collaboration with Kunsthal Spritten, Aalborg, Denmark that will host the work in a renewed version at its grand opening in 2027.
14.03.2026 - 23.08.2026
From 14 March to 23 August 2026, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi presents one of the most significant exhibitions ever devoted in Italy to Mark Rothko (1903–1970), the undisputed master of American modern art.
29.10.2025 - 25.01.2026
From 29 October 2025 to 25 January 2026, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Fondazione Hillary Merkus Recordati present a new site-specific installation for the Renaissance courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi by KAWS, the renowned contemporary artist known for his iconic visual language and category-defying oeuvre.
26.09.2025 - 25.01.2026
From September 26, 2025 to January 25, 2026, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi will present Angelico, an extraordinary project dedicated to Fra Angelico, a key artist of the Quattrocento in Florence. The exhibition is realized in collaboration with the Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Toscana and the Museo di San Marco, that it will be a parallel venue for the exhibition in a unified path through Florence celebrating one of the founding fathers of Renaissance art.
16.03.2025 - 20.07.2025
From 16 March to 20 July 2025 Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence hosted a major exhibition dedicated to Tracey Emin, the contemporary British artist celebrated for works combining autobiography with a constant formal research of profound experimentation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.