{"id":18819,"date":"2026-08-28T09:19:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marsilioarte.it\/?post_type=magazine&#038;p=18819"},"modified":"2026-08-28T09:19:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:19:59","slug":"sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/www.marsilioarte.it\/en\/magazine\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sonnabend Collection in Mantua hosts the Gilbert &#038; George exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"Coinciding with the thirtieth edition of Festivaletteratura, Palazzo della Ragione in Mantua \u2012hosting masterpieces from the Sonnabend Collection \u2012 raises the curtain on the exhibition by Gilbert &amp; George, whose history intersected with that of the Sonnabend gallery in 1971, when their performance, <em>The Singing Sculpture<\/em>, inaugurated its New York location.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nDecades later, this bond is renewed with the arrival, in the halls of the Sonnabend Collection Mantua, of eight works emblematic of the British duo\u2019s artistic philosophy, temporarily joining <em>Berries<\/em> (1985), the work already included in the permanent exhibition at Palazzo della Ragione.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nAlong a path that winds through the production of Gilbert &amp; George, the main themes of their work emerge \u2013 from politics to sex, from religion to urban identity to immortality \u2013 and the techniques used \u2013 from the powerful charcoal drawings of <em>The Bar II<\/em> (1972) to the famous photographic interventions with a geometric grid such as <em>Piss off!<\/em> (2014), <em>Bale<\/em> (2013) and <em>Beardway<\/em> (2016).<br \/>\r\n<h2>GILBERT &amp; GEORGE ON SHOW IN MANTUA<\/h2><br \/>\r\nWhen asked by curator and artistic director Mario Codognato about their transition from large-scale drawings to photography, the duo emphasized that their art stems from their head, soul, and sex. Their meeting with Ileana Sonnabend is described in these words: \u201c1971, LIVING SCULPTURE, Show Room du Jardin Stores Louise, Brussels, an elderly lady approached us. \u2018My name is Ileana Sonnabend. I am opening a gallery in New York, I want you to be the first exhibition.\u2019 That is how we met Ileana for the first time. The rest is the history.\u201d<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nIn parallel with the exhibition, Sonnabend Collection Mantua is updating its permanent display, in keeping with the dynamism that has always characterized the collection. <em>Campbell\u2019s Soup Can (Turkey noodle)<\/em> by Andy Warhol and <em>Large Spool<\/em> by Roy Lichtenstein temporarily leave the rooms in favour of the entrance of three works on paper made by Roy Lichtenstein from the early 1960s \u2012 <em>AIRPLANE<\/em> (1961), <em>MAN WITH COAT<\/em> (1961) and <em>KNOCK KNOCK<\/em> (1961) \u2012 and four canvases by Andy Warhol dedicated to <em>Flowers<\/em> from 1964. The section dedicated to Jeff Koons welcomes two works from his early career \u2012 <em>Buster Keaton<\/em> (1988) and <em>Jim Beam \u2012 Barrel Car <\/em>(1986) replacing <em>Wild Boy<\/em> and <em>Puppy<\/em> (1988) and <em>Gazing Ball (Standing Woman)<\/em> (2014).","protected":false},"featured_media":18816,"template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categorie_magazine":[343],"class_list":["post-18819","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie_magazine-words-from-marte"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Sonnabend Collection in Mantua hosts the Gilbert &amp; George exhibition - Marsilio Arte<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The British artist duo arrives at the Palazzo della Ragione in Mantua with a spotlight exhibition showcasing eight key works from their oeuvre\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marsilioarte.it\/en\/magazine\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sonnabend Collection in Mantua hosts the Gilbert &amp; George exhibition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The British artist duo arrives at the Palazzo della Ragione in Mantua with a spotlight exhibition showcasing eight key works from their oeuvre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.marsilioarte.it\/en\/magazine\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Marsilio Arte\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MarsilioArte\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.marsilioarte.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.-Gilbert-George-FREE-HK-2020-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1524\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MarsilioArte\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/en\\\/magazine\\\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/en\\\/magazine\\\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Sonnabend Collection in Mantua hosts the Gilbert & George exhibition - Marsilio Arte\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/en\\\/magazine\\\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/en\\\/magazine\\\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3.-Gilbert-George-FREE-HK-2020-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-28T07:19:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"The British artist duo arrives at the Palazzo della Ragione in Mantua with a spotlight exhibition showcasing eight key works from their oeuvre\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/en\\\/magazine\\\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/en\\\/magazine\\\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/en\\\/magazine\\\/sonnabend-collection-mantua-gilbert-george\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3.-Gilbert-George-FREE-HK-2020-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.marsilioarte.it\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3.-Gilbert-George-FREE-HK-2020-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1524,\"caption\":\"Gilbert & George, FREE HK, 2020, 227 x 380 cm \u00a9 Gilbert & George. 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