From January 30 to July 26, 2026, Palazzo Citterio in Milan dedicates a major exhibition to Giovanni Gastel (Milan, 1955-2021), among the protagonists of contemporary photography, celebrating his human and artistic journey. The exhibition entitled Giovanni Gastel. Rewind, curated by Uberto Frigerio and realized by La Grande Brera together with theGiovanni Gastel Archive, in collaboration with theGuardans-Cambó Agency, is proposed as an immersive and emotional experience that invites to reread the photographer’s entire career according to a key that is not chronological, but thematic, poetic and deeply intimate.
Gastel’s style has established itself for a personal and unmistakable vision, filtered through a strong inner dimension. Among the very few Italian photographers to have experimented with digital post-production already in the 1990s, Giovanni Gastel has been able to combine craftsmanship and innovation, analog and digital, transforming photography into a recognizable language.
The exhibition itinerary, set up by Gianni Fiori, unfolds in the spaces of Palazzo Citterio through more than 250 images, including 140 unpublished shots, 30 iconic photographs, 10 large-format works, Polaroids and the famous Gold Funds. From the first fashion covers of 1977 to the most experimental still lives, from the campaigns that have marked the history of fashion to portraits of iconic personalities of our time, the exhibition is also enriched by the artist’s personal objects and working tools.
For the first time in an exhibition context, some of Giovanni Gastel’s writings and poems, elements that have always been an integral part of his creative universe and poetic vision, are also presented.
The exhibition is also an opportunity to reaffirm the deep bond that has united Gastel to his city. Milan has not only been the setting of his professional activity, but a true cultural, familial, social and creative matrix that has shaped his outlook and style. Raised in an aristocratic Milanese environment, with a mother belonging to the Visconti family, Gastel lived between aristocracy and bourgeoisie, culture and industry, poetry and pragmatism. From this combination came a stylistic signature that was elegant and rigorous, at the same time intellectual and light, ironic and free. Milan welcomed, formed and inspired him, and he reciprocated by recounting its most authentic soul through images that have become famous. It is no coincidence that Harper’s Bazaar USA called him “the ambassador of Milan par excellence, the most international and the most elegant.”
His relationship with the city was also expressed through a concrete commitment to social work, with support for initiatives such as Progetto Itaca Milano and the famous campaign in favor of Umberto Veronesi’s IEO.
Accompanying the exhibition is an extensive catalog published by Allemandi, edited by Luca Stoppini, consisting of more than 300 pages and more than 200 images, which comprehensively chronicles Giovanni Gastel’s career, enriched by contributions and testimonials from friends, art historians and curators.
“It was Giovanni himself,” says curator Uberto Frigerio, “who guided us throughout the exhibition. The search for material among texts and private notes was conducted with the intention that it was his words that would tell each fragment of his life, as emotional chapters. In fact, each section stems from his thoughts, from his inner voice because no one knew how to transform memory into image and image into narrative more than John. It is a journey in which the visitor does not just observe: he listens. A narrative constructed by Giovanni for Giovanni, returned to the public in its most authentic form.”
“Exactly five years after his death,” says Angelo Crespi, General Director of Pinacoteca di Brera, “the idea of celebrating not only his career as a photographer, but first and foremost the person of Giovanni, seems to me the best way to honor a great artist who knew how to be free and creative, and whom everyone remembers for the humanity and empathy with which he related to others in everyday life. His talent allowed him to create a world that today appears, in the rooms set up at Palazzo Citterio, exorbitant and imaginative. As in the recent Armani exhibition, I am convinced that the goal of the Grande Brera is to be the center of a city in which good taste, form and measure, beauty and sense are the founding values; and Gastel has exalted to the highest degree the style of Milan at once rigorous and daring.”
Hours: Thursday through Sunday, 2 to 7 p.m.
Tickets: Palazzo Citterio only, full €12; reduced €8
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| Milan, Palazzo Citterio dedicates a major exhibition to Giovanni Gastel, among the most famous contemporary photographers |
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