From October 3 to 30, 2025, Galleria Bottegantica in Milan presents the exhibition Boccioni and the Baers. A Rediscovered Memory, a project that interweaves art, collecting and the history of the 20th century. The initiative pays tribute to Umberto Boccioni, a central figure of Futurism, and reconstructs the artist’s relationship with the Baer family, entrepreneurs and collectors of Jewish-German origin who supported his career in important ways. The exhibition stems from the discovery of four unpublished drawings from the Baer collection. A nucleus that made it possible to retrace the vicissitudes of one of the richest and most important collections of works related to the Futurist genius. At the same time, the exhibition offers a glimpse of the Baer family history, marked by support for avant-garde art and the subsequent diaspora imposed by fascist persecution.
The project comes four years after the 2021 exhibition The Young Boccioni, which had investigated the painter’s prefuturist experiences. Now the focus is on the role of a family that contributed to the international diffusion of his works. The relationship between Boccioni and the Baers is rooted in Margherita Sarfatti’s cultural milieu. It was in this context that Betty, wife of Samuele Baer, active in women’s associationism and close to figures such as Alessandrina Ravizza, came into contact with the artist. Boccioni portrayed her in 1909 together with his daughter Nora. The bond then expanded to other family members, such as the Ruberl family, and especially with Vico Baer, who became one of the artist’s closest friends and supporters. In a 1914 letter, Boccioni called him the “only friend I have left,” a sign of a relationship that transcended the boundaries of mere collecting.
The Baer family, active in Milan since 1884 with the firm M. Baer & Co specializing in ladies’ clothing, invested resources and attention in the Futurist artist’s work. Evidence of their collection emerges in the 1933 posthumous exhibition at the Castello Sforzesco, where 38 works from Vico and Betty Baer’s own loans were exhibited. However, a few years later, the enactment of the racial laws radically changed the family’s fate. In 1938 Ludovico Baer with his family found refuge in the United States after a stopover in Switzerland. Nora, the child portrayed by Boccioni, moved to England with her husband Cornelio Papp. Gemma, another daughter, reached America in 1939.
Other members, however, remained in Italy and were directly involved in the events of the war and persecution. Marianna Baer and her husband Giuliano Treves, after escaping the raid of the Carmine in Florence in November 1943, took refuge in Rome. There Treves joined the ranks of the Resistance and died during the liberation of Florence. Marianna later managed to reach England. Different was the fate of Mario Baer, who remained in Florence, committing himself to rescuing persecuted Jews. After the war, the Baer collection gradually dispersed. Some works were sold, others donated to prominent institutions. Vico Baer donated several works by Boccioni to MoMA in New York. In 1951, upon returning from a trip to Milan, he and his wife Lotta performed an important act: the donation to the Pinacoteca di Brera of the 1908Self-Portrait, one of the artist’s best-known paintings.
Today’s exhibition recomposes part of this journey through works that once belonged to the Baer collection. These include studies related to the making of La città sale, one of Futurism’s masterpieces, and an unpublished drawing of a Futurist head. Alongside the works from the family collection, other paintings and drawings by Boccioni, such as the portrait of sculptor Riccardo Ripamonti, are exhibited, allowing us to frame a crucial season in his creative career and avant-garde collecting. Supporting the exhibition is a volume edited by Niccolò D’Agati, with an essay by Ester Coen. The publication brings together documents and period materials that illustrate the history of the Baers and their activity as collectors, giving a more complete picture of their relationship with Boccioni. The volume also presents the reconstruction of works that are missing or unknown to the literature, such as the Portrait of Vico Baer and the Portrait of Gemma Baer.
The exhibition is on view at Galleria Bottegantica, 45 Manzoni Street, Milan, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3-7 p.m. Admission is free.
 |
| Unpublished drawings and collecting: Boccioni and the Baers on display in Milan |
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.
