Revoltella Museum

The Revoltella Museum is a modern art gallery located in Trieste, Italy. Founded in 1872, it holds the distinction of being the oldest public gallery in Italy specifically dedicated to modern art. Established from the bequest of Baron Pasquale Revoltella, a prominent entrepreneur and financier of imperial Trieste, the institution originated from his decision to leave his palace and its entire contents to the city. Today, the museum spans three interconnected buildings with a total exhibition area of 4,000 square meters, housing a collection that traces the evolution of Italian and European art from the 19th century to the present.

Pasquale Revoltella died in 1869, bequeathing his city palace, artworks, furniture, and books to Trieste with the stipulation that they be made accessible to the public and that the institution perpetually bear his name. His will, executed in 1872, established a Board of Trustees to manage the inheritance and ensure the steady increase of the art collection, which doubled in size within its first three decades. As the collection outgrew its original space, the city acquired the neighboring Brunner palace in 1907, though it was only partially utilized after World War I. A full renovation and expansion project was entrusted to architect Carlo Scarpa in 1963, incorporating the adjacent Palazzo Basevi. Scarpa's modernist addition created a deliberate architectural dialogue with the historic palace. The work experienced multiple interruptions and was completed by architects Franco Vattolo and Giampaolo Bartoli in 1991, long after Scarpa's death.

The museum's holdings encompass over 200 sculptures and approximately 350 paintings and sculptures on permanent display, distributed across nearly 40 rooms and six floors. While the collection originated from Revoltella's personal acquisitions, a testamentary clause required the continuous purchase of contemporary art. The institution systematically acquired works, including numerous pieces purchased at the Venice Biennale from its first edition in 1895 through 1968. The collection features a wide array of media, including marble, stone, bronze, terracotta, wax, ceramics, wood, and fabric, spanning from early 19th century classicism to contemporary informal and soft sculpture movements.

The museum's painting collection includes works by Francesco Hayez, Giovanni Fattori, Giuseppe De Nittis, Giorgio de Chirico, Carlo Carra, Felice Casorati, Giorgio Morandi, Mario Sironi, Emilio Vedova, and Lucio Fontana. Sculptural highlights feature Antonio Canova's plaster sketch for the monumental statue of Napoleon I as Mars the Peacemaker, Jean Antoine Houdon's plaster bust of Napoleon I, and Lorenzo Bartolini's marble portrait of Prince Felice Baciocchi. Pietro Magni's sculptural groups are central to the original palace, including the Ninfa Aurisina celebrating the city's new aqueduct and the Taglio dell'Istmo di Suez representing the Suez Canal project. The museum also holds fifteen works by Marcello Mascherini, a dedicated section of contemporary art including Arnaldo Pomodoro, and Daniel Spoerri's assemblage Histoires de Boites a Lettres No. 12, Le Carnaval d'Ensor.

The main Palazzo Revoltella was built in 1858 to the designs of Berlin architect Friedrich Hitzig, a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Situated near the seafront on what was then Piazza Giuseppina, the building presented a Neo Renaissance facade that broke from local neoclassical traditions. Its exterior is divided into three horizontal bands by elaborate string courses, transitioning from an austere ground floor to refined upper stories, and is crowned by a balustrade featuring six allegorical statues by Venetian sculptor Francesco Bosa. Inside, the historic palace retains its original furniture and decorations, centered around a spectacular helicoidal staircase. Carlo Scarpa's 1960s redesign radically transformed the interior atrium into a full height space with a rectangular fountain and a spiral staircase, framing views between the old and new wings and creating large exhibition halls and a rooftop terrace.

The Revoltella Museum is located in Trieste, Italy, with its main entrance at 27 Via Diaz, which corresponds to the original courtyard of the Palazzo Revoltella. The museum is open to the public and is administered by the Municipality of Trieste. The historic Palazzo Revoltella primarily functions as a historic house museum showcasing the baron's original apartments and collection, while the adjacent Palazzo Brunner houses the modern art gallery. The Brunner palace displays works chronologically: Italian artists of the second half of the 19th century on the third floor, early 20th century acquisitions on the fourth, artists from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region on the fifth, and national postwar works on the sixth floor.