The Centenary Triptych: Leonardo 1919, Raphael 1920, Dante 1921

The Exhibition The Centenary Triptych: Leonardo 1919, Raphael 1920, Dante 1921 offered an overview of the taste and aesthetics that shaped the post–World War I celebrations of the centenaries of Leonardo (1919), Raphael (1920), and Dante (1921).

These were years in which the country, emerging from the Great War, needed to rebuild its national identity by recalling a glorious past — not only of beauty but also of ingenuity and ethics — while looking to the future with a spirit of innovation and change.

The celebrations served above all as sources of inspiration for avant-garde artists and extended to every field of human creativity, reaching the wider public through postcards, objects, furniture, architecture, and magazine and newspaper covers, paving the way for new styles and trends.

The exhibition displayed, alongside period magazines, objects, and books, works by leading twentieth-century artists (from private collections) such as Carlo Carrà, Giorgio de Chirico, Gino Severini, Mario Sironi, Anselmo Bucci, Achille Funi, Adolfo Wildt, Alberto Martini, Gerardo Dottori, Plinio Nomellini, Cesare Monti, Ottone Rosai, and Lucio Fontana, as well as a series of postcards designed by Ezio Anichini for the Dante centenary of 1921.