Twentieth-century European art. The creativity and  entrepreneurial spirit of a great Italian fashion house. The extraordinary culture  and brilliance of its two founders. These are the central themes of the “Missoni, l’arte, il colore” exhibition that the MA*GA Museum in Gallarate (VA) is dedicating to Ottavio and Rosita Missoni from 19^th April to 8^th November 2015, in the city they chose for their home and first knitwear atelier back in 1953. The exhibition’s distinctive layout has spaces that become environmental works of art in their own right, and is organised according to different narrative registers to outline the key characteristics of the Missonis’ brilliance: colour, material and shape. It also reveals just how very closely their creativity is linked to art, a quality that makes the brand virtually unique on the international fashion scene.

The “Missoni, l’arte, il colore” exhibition, curated by Luciano Caramel, Luca Missoni and Emma Zanella, is a joint project organised by the City of Gallarate, the MA*GA Museum and the Missoni Archive with contributions from the Lombardy Region. The exhibition is also included in the EXPO 2015 Grand Tour program. Protagonists of the exhibition are cloths, the heart of Missoni’s constant research. Underlining this concept is a cloths installation exclusively set up for the exhibition at MA*GA by the Missoni family itself, entirely dedicated to the fashion and glamour of their historical garments. The exhibition opens with Casa di moda (Fashion House), the evocative video installation created in 2009 by Ali Kazma, focusing on Missoni’s works.

The final section explores the dialogue between the hectic creativity of Ottavio Missoni and Italian contemporary visual culture: the pursuits for material and color, canvases and tapestries side by side with works of great masters like Mario Ballocco, Gianni Bertini, Giuseppe Capogrossi, just to name a few.

Missoni, l’Arte, il Colore

Gallarate, MA*GA Museum

19 April – 8 November 2015

www.museomaga.it