Baselitz and Fontana inaugurate Thaddaeus Ropac's Milan gallery A dialogue on matter, the body, and the cosmos

By Richard Deni

Thaddaeus Ropac will open his first exhibition space in Milan on September 20, 2025, inside the Palazzo Belgioioso, which will be directed by Elena Bonanno di Linguaglossa. The inaugural exhibition brings together Georg Baselitz and Lucio Fontana, two artists separated in time but united by a shared desire to transcend the pictorial surface. The exhibition features works personally selected by Baselitz, along with several loans from the Fondazione Lucio Fontana.

Baselitz's interest in Fontana's work is longstanding. The German artist has a studio in Imperia, Italy, and sees the Italian-Argentine master as a reference, though not one to emulate. " At my age, " he states, " it's more about intellectual exchange than dependence." This connection is also underscored by the exhibition's title, " L'aurora viene ," taken from a 2015 work by the German artist that clearly evokes the theme of Spatialist art. The reference to the cosmos and the dimension of infinity is a common thread that unites the two exhibitions.