The exhibition will take up residence for more than half a year in the galleries dedicated to temporary exhibitions on the first and second floors of Mart. Organized into different periods and sections, Passion is a major project dedicated to VAF-Foundation, the largest collection in storage at Mart. Born of a great passion for Italian art, the German Foundation has amassed one of the world’s most extensive collections of contemporary Italian works.

The exhibition is organized into twelve distinct but interpenetrating thematic areas in 20th-century painting and sculpture. The various sections weave a dense network of relations highlighting the many diverse expressions of the Italian artistic quest. The exhibition includes more than 250 works, featuring masterpieces by the foremost modern and contemporary artists: Medardo Rosso, Carlo Carrà, Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Savinio, Massimo Campigli, Felice Casorati, Renato Guttuso, Ettore Colla, Agostino Bonalumi, and Giuseppe Uncini.

The twelve Passion projects feature the first stage of the prestigious VAF Prize, awarded by the German Foundation to Italian artists under the age of 40. The participants are Nico Angiuli, Davide Balossi, Giulia Berra, Martina Brugnara, Nina Carini, Federica di Carlo, Andrea Fontanari, Giovanni Gasparro, Silvia Giambrone, Emanuele Giuffrida, J&Peg, Dario Maglionico, Domenico Antonio Mancini, Michele Parisi, Susanna Pozzoli, and Tania Brassesco & Lazlo Passi Norberto. The winner has been announced on Friday, 15 March during the exhibition preview, which featured the finalists in this year’s competition. The VAF-Foundation Prize goes to Silvia Giambrone. Special mentions to Emanuele Giuffrida and Michele Parisi. The prize will be presented this summer in Germany at the Stadtgalerie Kiel.