Mastering Milan: A Journey Through Italian 20th-Century Art and Architecture

Trips and site-visits are an important part of the Master’s in Art History. One of the highlights of the program is a three-day field trip to Milan as part of Professor Sarah Linford‘s course Italian Art, 1909-1979. This excursion provides a unique opportunity to explore Italian twentieth-century art, culture, and politics by visiting museums, foundations, and historical galleries of the period. Students critically engage with primary records, collections, exhibitions, and sites, gain firsthand experience that enriches their understanding of the period.

The itinerary includes visits to renowned art institutions and landmarks that showcase the city’s contribution to Italian art history: the Museo del Novecento, Palazzo Reale, the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Galleria d’Italia di Milano, and the Fondazione Prada. Students also delve into the architectural marvels of the twentieth century-built environment of the Lombard capital, analyzing how these structures interact with the socio-political context of their time.

This field trip is more than just a journey through art. It’s an immersive educational experience that complements the site visits undertaken throughout the semester in Rome and allows students to make connections between artistic developments in Rome and Milan.

Professor Linford’s course Italian Art, 1909-1979 introduces students to the extraordinary vitality and complexity of the Italian twentieth-century art. It familiarizes them with the methods, debates, and resources in art-historical research of the late modern and historical contemporary periods in Rome and, by way of comparison, Milan. The course is organized chronologically, beginning in 1909, with Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto and ending in 1979 with the Transavanguardia.