BAG – Bocconi Art Gallery 2026 | Giverny, Giverny – Castella, Caravaggio, Carrara, Dynys, Kawamata

Giverny, Giverny. Nature and Abstraction in Contemporary Art

curated by Anna Bernardini
from November 19th, 2026 to May 18th, 2027
BAG – Bocconi Art Gallery 2026

Opening: Wednesday,November 18th, 2026, from 4.00PM
at Campus Università Bocconi, via Röntgen 1, Milan

Below, the program for the opening day, with guided tours and talks: The Program

BUILDING is pleased to announce the participation in this important project of five artists who collaborate with the gallery: Vincenzo Castella, Gianni Caravaggio, Linda Carrara, Chiara Dynys, and Tadashi Kawamata. Their works are part of the rich dialogue between contemporary artistic languages, nature, and abstraction that characterizes the 13th edition of BAG – Bocconi Art Gallery, with the exhibition Giverny, Giverny.
Nature and Abstraction in Contemporary Art, curated by Anna Bernardini.

The exhibition, which opens on November 18th, 2026, at Bocconi University, features an impressive collection of over 90 works—including installations, sculptures, paintings, drawing walls, and photographs—created by 28 living contemporary artists, both Italian and international, in dialogue with the historical legacy of Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 – Giverny, 1926).

One hundred years after the passing of the master of Giverny, the exhibition draws inspiration from his revolutionary legacy: breaking free from the confines of figurative art to arrive at a primordial and cosmic abstraction, capable of liberating nature and transforming it into matter, process, and perceptual energy. The University’s buildings—the historic campus designed by the rationalist architect Giuseppe Pagano (1941) and the complex by the Dublin-based firm Grafton Architects (2008)—are thus transformed into a widespread exhibition space open to the city.

“All my efforts are simply aimed at creating as many images as possible connected to unknown realities”, Monet wrote. Building on this insight, curator Anna Bernardini highlights how nature is not understood here as merely a subject to be contemplated or represented figuratively, but as a field of inquiry, relationship, and transformation.
In an era marked by the Anthropocene emergency and the crisis of memory, abstraction does not amount to a departure from reality, but rather serves as a tool for accessing the visible and invisible structures of matter and redefining our presence in the world: matter, energy, transformation, growth, time, order, and chaos—all the way to the most inner and spiritual dimension of the relationship between humanity, nature, and the cosmos.

The exhibition explores the evolution of these artistic languages through three fundamental actions: dissolving, depositing, and transforming. The exhibition connects masters of Arte Povera, Land Art, and conceptual art with the most cutting-edge research of today.

From November 19th, 2026, to May 18th, 2027, artworks by Gianni Caravaggio, Tadashi Kawamata, and Chiara Dynys will be on display at the Bocconi University Campus at Via Röntgen 1, Milan; at the same time, artworks by Vincenzo Castella and Linda Carrara will be on display at the Bocconi University Campus at Via Sarfatti 25, Milan.