The Roots of Contemporary Art: From Mimetic Image to Surrogate Reality

In this lesson, Renato Barilli highlights the connection between art and technology in the 19th and 20th centuries through the works of Cézanne, Seurat, and Gauguin.

The Early Avant-Gardes: Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism

The lesson, led by Guido Bartorelli, focuses on the artistic movements that revolutionized the history of art through synthesis and abstraction. The most influential artists of the early avant-gardes—Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, and Futurism—will be analyzed in detail.

Between Avant-Garde and Provocation: Abstractism, Russian Avant-Gardes, and Dadaism

From the geometry of Mondrian, Malevich, and Tatlin to the nihilism of Dadaism, Luca Guerrini explores the evolution of new expressive forms that marked the artistic landscape of the first half of the 20th century. The lesson examines the relationship between avant-garde and provocation, analyzing Abstractism, the Russian avant-gardes, and Dadaism.

The Call to Order: Between a Return to the Past and Innovation – Metaphysics, Surrealism, Novecento

Silvia Grandi explores the artistic developments of the two decades between the world wars, analyzing the elements of a call to order and innovation. The lesson focuses on artistic movements like Metaphysics, Surrealism, and Novecento, which marked a period of creative tension and visual exploration.

The Art of Gesture: Informal Art and Abstract Expressionism

The lesson, led by Marco Pierini, explores how art becomes a gestural expression of the self. The two artistic movements, Informal Art and Abstract Expressionism, are analyzed in depth, comparing the artistic experiences in Europe and America.

Art Meets Mass Culture: New Dada, Nouveau Réalisme, and Pop Art

The lesson explores the relationship between art and society starting from the late 1950s. It delves into the artistic movements of New Dada, Nouveau Réalisme, and Pop Art, which revolutionized the artistic landscape, reflecting and commenting on the social, cultural, and economic transformations of the era.

Minimalism, Land Art, Conceptual Art, and Arte Povera

The lesson explores European and American art from the mid-1960s, focusing on key factors such as space and light. The artistic movements of Minimalism, Land Art, Conceptual Art, and Arte Povera are analyzed, highlighting how these movements transformed art by shifting from the essence of form to the concept of art as an idea, revolutionizing the relationship between the artwork and the audience.

The Body as a Tool for Artistic Creation: Performance

Angela Vettese's lesson explores artistic research on the body starting from the 1960s, a period in which the body became a tool for political resistance and protest.

The Moving Image: The Languages of Video Art

The lesson explores the evolution of the moving image from the second half of the 1960s, through the use of different technologies: from television to video recorders, to monitors, and finally to electronic and digital tools.

The Free Crossing of Styles: Postmodernism

This lecture addresses the main international artistic trends that emerged in the context of postmodernity, from the late 1970s to the late 1980s.

The Long Nineties. Exhibitions and Key Figures: From Jeff Koons to Tino Sehgal

Through the analysis of emblematic exhibitions and significant artistic figures, this lecture will provide a perspective on the 1990s: a decade of cultural, social, and artistic transformations that left a lasting impact on the collective imagination.

Two Trends in Contemporary Art: Digital Art and the Return to Craftsmanship

The contemporary art course concludes with a lecture exploring two seemingly opposite artistic trends, both representative of contemporary art: digital and technological art, on one hand, and art expressed through craftsmanship and traditional techniques, on the other.