Palazzo Albizzini — Collezione Burri

Why it matters

Palazzo Albizzini houses one of the collections devoted to Alberto Burri's work. Burri helped conceive the museum and supervised its installation. The collection includes around 150 works made between 1948 and 1989, tracing his experiments with materials and surfaces.

What to notice

The palace's late-fifteenth-century architecture provides a restrained setting for Burri's work. The collection follows the artist's sequence of materials and series, including Catrami, Muffe, Gobbi, Sacchi, Legni, Ferri, Combustioni, Cretti and Cellotex. Sculptural work and sketches for stage sets and larger cycles extend the presentation beyond the paintings and reliefs.

Context and history

The palace belonged to the Albizzini family, who commissioned Raphael's Sposalizio della Vergine for the nearby church of San Francesco; the altarpiece is now in Milan's Pinacoteca di Brera. Burri chose the palace for a foundation that would house works selected by him. The building was purchased by the Cassa di Risparmio di Città di Castello and lent to the foundation for ninety-nine years from 1978. Restoration was led by architect Alberto Zanmatti with Tiziano Sarteanesi under the guidance of Burri and Nemo Sarteanesi.