GALLERIA NAZIONALE D'ARTE MODERNA E CONTEMPORANEA

Founded in 1881, the National Gallery of Modern Art is housed in a monumental neoclassical Liberty-style palace designed by architect Cesare Bazzani. Arriving from the Villa Borghese park, one is impressed by the grandeur and elegance of this building. This beautiful gallery offers a chronological tour of Italian and international painting and sculpture of the ^19th and ^20th centuries. The didactic approach is commendable, with an interesting presentation of works by regional movement. The collection is divided into four sections:

The south-west wing is dedicated to the ^19th century, from the Napoleonic era to Italian Unity, with paintings and sculptures from the Neoclassical school( Canova'sHercules and Lichas ), the Romantic school and the regional schools of the period.

The south-east wing is dedicated to the late ^19th century and thus to the celebration of the Risorgimento with Fattori, Cammarano, Signorini and Segantini. In the veranda overlooking the garden, you'll find works by the Roman school, the group of Italians in Paris (Boldini, De Nittis Troubetzkoy and Medardo Rosso), the great masters (Courbet, Rodin, Degas, Van Gogh and one of Monet's Water Lilies ) and a large number of Pointillist paintings.

The northeast wing is devoted to the first half of the ^20th century. On display are donations by Balla, Guttuso, De Chirico and Schwarz (the latter includes works by Duchamp, Man Ray, Max Ernst and Breton); Futurist and abstract art of the 1930s and 1940s; works by Carrà, Sironi and Morandi; the Roman school (Scipione, Mafai, Pirandello); De Pisis and the Aeropittori group; and the expressionist Potere group. Room 29, one of the most impressive, is dedicated to Fascist propaganda painting of the 1930s.

The north-west wing is devoted to European informal art, American abstract expressionism of the 1950s and 1960s (Pollock, Tapies, Fautrier, Hartung, Burri, Capogrossi, Fontana, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Mastroianni) and post-informal art (Festa, Schifano, Angeli).

The courtyard, corridors and second floor host temporary exhibitions and interesting artistic and literary encounters.

In short, not-to-be-missed works include Gustave Klimt'sThe Three Ages, Van Gogh's The Gardener, one of Monet's Water Lilies and a bronze bust of a woman by Auguste Rodin.