Caption
PAGANI - MUSEUM OF MODERN ART "EN PLEIN AIR"
Museum of Modern Art PAGANI is located in Castellanza - Varese (Italy) and it is built in the woods, not far from the town of Legnano.
The museum shows itself like a large park, about 40,000 square meters, a unique artistic oasis, where hundreds of sculptures and mosaics are placed, made from different kind of materials: marble, stone, bronze, iron, steel, wood, glass, etc.
This collection is unique both for the number of works exposed, for the notoriety of Italian and foreign artists represented, for the extent of exposition's area and - above all - because it is "en plein air".
The idea which inspired the founder, Enzo Pagani, was to take works of art in open air, as ancient Greeks did, to be in contact with Nature, to breathe freely. Pagani declared in one of his interview: "In 1957 I was in Venice and Hemingway was with me. Most of times, after dining, I used to sit down on the terrace of Hotel Cipriani, still a small restaurant. I looked at Torcello out of the corner of my eyes: suddenly I realized it was nothing else but a living museum. So I got the idea to found a museum which had to be not only a static collection of pieces of art, but also a live body growing up with us...."
To ensure fluidity to all further expansion it was chosen, as its basic design module, a grid of exagons, which also granted freedom to locate works of art.
Since 1957 the Museum gives much room to avant-garde and many prestigious artists donated their works. They represent as well many countries of origin as various artistic currents: futurism, dadaism and surrealism.
Besides sculptures, in this park - museum many colourful mosaics have been placed. They are figurative elements with a chromatic and vitalizing function of its general look.
Today the Museum goes on testifying Pagani Family’s passion for arts, through the devotion and commitment of Fondazione Museo Pagani at preserving the permanent exhibition and at promoting culture and art.