From April 9, 2026, to January 10, 2027, the FAI and the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation will present the exhibition Josef Albers: Meditations at Villa e Collezione Panza in Varese, dedicated to one of the protagonists of 20th-century art.
The exhibition brings together 29 works by Josef Albers, including important works from the Variant/Adobe and Homage to the Square series, from prestigious public and private collections in Europe and the United States. The project was born from an invitation from Gabriella Belli, Curator of Scientific Programming at Villa e Collezione Panza, to Nicholas Fox Weber, Executive Director of the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation and curator of the exhibition.
A Dialogue Between Art and Space
Albers's works enter into a dialogue with the spaces of Villa Panza, creating a journey that connects the artist's research with the collecting sensibility of Giuseppe Panza di Biumo.
The essential and meditative exhibition unfolds across the eight rooms on the first floor overlooking the park. The exhibition does not follow a chronological order, but offers a true perceptive journey, an ''exercise of seeing'' in which color becomes a tool for observation, comparison, and understanding.
The journey leads the visitor through different chromatic assonances and contrasts: from the whites and yellows of the first rooms to the more intense shades of orange and pink, and finally to the deep shades of gray, brown, and black.
The works on display include Orange Front, from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, and Homage to the Square from the Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, along with rarely seen works, such as Dark, from the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation.
Completing the exhibition is a section featuring videos illustrating Albers's method and his fundamental contribution to the transformation of twentieth-century painting.
Josef Albers
Painter, designer, and teacher, Josef Albers devoted much of his research to the study of color, perception, and the relationships between different hues.
The celebrated series Homage to the Square, begun in 1950, became the privileged laboratory for this research: concentric squares of color seem to change in relation to each other and to the surrounding environment, demonstrating how the perception of color is always dynamic and relative.
The exhibition at Villa Panza thus invites us to slow down our gaze, letting ourselves be guided by the color and the relationship between the works and the spaces of the villa.
The exhibition brings together 29 works by Josef Albers, including important works from the Variant/Adobe and Homage to the Square series, from prestigious public and private collections in Europe and the United States. The project was born from an invitation from Gabriella Belli, Curator of Scientific Programming at Villa e Collezione Panza, to Nicholas Fox Weber, Executive Director of the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation and curator of the exhibition.
A Dialogue Between Art and Space
Albers's works enter into a dialogue with the spaces of Villa Panza, creating a journey that connects the artist's research with the collecting sensibility of Giuseppe Panza di Biumo.
The essential and meditative exhibition unfolds across the eight rooms on the first floor overlooking the park. The exhibition does not follow a chronological order, but offers a true perceptive journey, an ''exercise of seeing'' in which color becomes a tool for observation, comparison, and understanding.
The journey leads the visitor through different chromatic assonances and contrasts: from the whites and yellows of the first rooms to the more intense shades of orange and pink, and finally to the deep shades of gray, brown, and black.
The works on display include Orange Front, from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, and Homage to the Square from the Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, along with rarely seen works, such as Dark, from the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation.
Completing the exhibition is a section featuring videos illustrating Albers's method and his fundamental contribution to the transformation of twentieth-century painting.
Josef Albers
Painter, designer, and teacher, Josef Albers devoted much of his research to the study of color, perception, and the relationships between different hues.
The celebrated series Homage to the Square, begun in 1950, became the privileged laboratory for this research: concentric squares of color seem to change in relation to each other and to the surrounding environment, demonstrating how the perception of color is always dynamic and relative.
The exhibition at Villa Panza thus invites us to slow down our gaze, letting ourselves be guided by the color and the relationship between the works and the spaces of the villa.