Milan, the “Brera Modern” arrives: the Pinacoteca doubles its spaces

«We’ve been talking about it for years: the construction site opens on 11 May, I’ll be here in the days immediately following and I’ll come once a month to check the progress of the works». These are the words of the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, a guarantee for the preparation of Palazzo Citterio, the heart of the «Grande Brera» project which has been talked about for years on the trail of what has already happened at the Tate Modern, the new emanation of Tate Britain in London. Finally the works were entrusted to the new Superintendent Emanuela Carpani, who replaced Antonella Ranaldi.

The Grande Brera or «Brera Modern» (in its international translation), will arise from the expansion of the Milanese Pinacoteca of the same name which envisages the restoration, adaptation and preparation of the adjacent Palazzo Citterio as a marvelous eighteenth-century exhibition space that extends for 6500 square meters where the museum’s modern art collections will be housed.
Initially imagined by the unforgettable director of the Pinacoteca Franco Russoli in the seventies, the “Grande Brera” aims to modernize a structure that has remained substantially unchanged since the early nineteenth century, a more unique than rare case in Europe, creating a wide-ranging “stage”. The works will last three years, the goal set is that of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

A final gift from the outgoing director James Bradburne, who since his arrival in 2015 had supported Russoli’s vision and had worked hard to prevent the Pinacoteca’s modern collection from being simply absorbed by the Municipality of Milan. «Milan is not only the economic capital of the nation but it is also very important from a cultural point of view and can give a lot in this area in a moment of renewed attention to Italy, as demonstrated by the extraordinary numbers we are experiencing with visits to museums », added Sangiuliano, who specified how this is «one of the three major projects on which I focus. I want to double three great museums: the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Uffizi and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, one in the North, one in the Center and one in the South».