Aurelio Amendola. Masterpieces Photographed

exhibition in Milan

June 16, 2026

Palazzo Reale, Milan, IT

From June 16 to September 6, 2026, the Palazzo Reale in Milan will host the exhibition “Aurelio Amendola. Masterpieces Photographed”.

The exhibition brings together 85 large-format photographs made between 1976 and 2025 and pays tribute to the artistic research of Amendola (Pistoia, 1938), a leading figure in contemporary art photography. His work stands out for its ability to cross different eras and artistic languages, transforming light into a narrative tool capable of offering an intense and deeply personal gaze.

Central to the exhibition is the relationship the photographer establishes with some of the greatest protagonists of art history. From the sculptures of Michelangelo Buonarroti, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Antonio Canova to the expressive power of contemporary art represented by Alberto Burri, Emilio Vedova and Hermann Nitsch, Amendola’s shots manage to reveal both the hidden soul of the works and the most authentic identity of their authors. Added to this path is a section dedicated to the Duomo of Milan, with unpublished photographs that interpret the cathedral as a great sculpted matter, traversed by light and time rather than a simple architectural structure.

The exhibition aims to be a path that puts different eras and artistic practices in dialogue, building a rich and layered visual narrative. Through his gaze, Amendola offers an intimate rereading of art history, dwelling on the relationship between matter, memory and creative gesture.

The exhibition opens with 41 photographs dedicated to Hermann Nitsch, Alberto Burri and Emilio Vedova, central figures of the second half of the 20th century who shared an artistic practice based on action. The works also come from important Italian and international collections, including the Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri in Città di Castello, the Fondazione Emilio and Annabianca Vedova in Venice and the Nitsch Foundation in Vienna. In these artists, gesture becomes sign, energy and matter, finally transforming into work. Amendola portrays them in their ateliers, capturing their most private dimension and, at the same time, their extraordinary creative intensity.

Prominent among the works on display are the photographs dedicated to the “blood-red actions” made by Hermann Nitsch in Prinzendorf Castle in 2012. The shots condense the essence of his artistic research into a more collected and unprecedented form than the collective and performative dimension that usually characterizes his actions.

Palazzo Reale
Piazza del Duomo 12
20122 Milan
Italy
www.palazzorealemilano.it