Biography

Adami is associated with figurative painting from 1970 that represents a wide variety of different stylistic directions. In 1964 he took part in the documenta III and received a retrospective in the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

Valerio Adami is a modern art classic. His works are deeply rooted in the humanist tradition of Europe and focus on human existence and cultural identity. Some consider him a modern philosopher who expresses his thoughts through colour and shape.

Both his life and art were shaped by long journeys around the world and his acquaintance with various artists and intellectuals. Comic art and pop art are said to have had an enormous influence on Adami’s work. A series created during his stay in New York in 1968 caused his work to be labelled as “European pop art” for some time.

In the 1970s, Adami’s style changed: he started using colours to create an atmosphere while commenting, connoting, and psychologising within his paintings. In 1964 and 1977 he took part in the documenta and from 1970 he received retrospectives of his work in major museums around the globe. In 2005 Adami founded the Fondazione europea del disegno – Fondation Adami in Meina, Italy.

Works

News

Documents

Publications

Education

1955 Académie des Beaux-Arts de Brera, Milan, Italy

Solo exhibitions (selection)

2022

Valerio Adami, Galerie Templon, Paris, France

Valerio Adami – Immagine e pensiero, Dep Art Gallery, Milan, Italy

2020

Valerio Adami, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany

2019

Camilla et Valerio Adami, Espace Jacques Villeglé, Saint Gratien, France

The 80s, Galerie Templon, Paris, France

2018

Adami: lignes de vie, Musée Jean Cocteau, Collection Séverin Wunderman, Menton, France

2017

Valerio Adami, Galleria L’Incontro, Chiari, Bs, Italy

Valerio Adami – The Narrative Line, The Mayor Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2016

Valerio Adami, Secession, Vienna, Austria

Transfigurations, Chapelle Saint-Sauveur, Saint-Malo, France

De la ligne à la couleur, Le Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun, France

Valerio Adami, Galerie Daniel Templon Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

Valerio Adami, Fondazione Marconi, Milan, Italy

2015

Great retrospective Valerio Adami’s 80th birthday, Turin Museum, Turin, Italy ; Mantua Museum, Mantua, Italy

Valerio Adami, Centre d’art contemporain à cent mètres du centre du monde, Perpignan, France

2014

Valerio Adami, Disegnare, Dipingere, Galeria André, Roma, Italy

Valerio Adami, Centre d’art graphique de la Métairie Bruyère, Parly, France

2013

Mosaïques, Ravenna Museum of Art, Ravenna, Italy

Valerio Adami, Aquarelles, Galerie Biasutti, Turin, Italy

2012

Tableaux et dessins, Galerie Hass Ag, Zürich, Switzerland

New Painting – Photographic Work from the Sixties, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France

Figure nel tempo, Galleria Tega, Milan, Italy

Œuvres graphiques, Nev, Ankara, Turkey

Valerio Adami, les années 1960, Galerie Laurent Strouk, Paris, France

2011

Quadri di lettura, Padiglione Italia, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

Drawings, Galleria Usher arte, via della Zecca 15, Lucques, Italy

Paintings, Claudio Poleschi Arte Contemporanea, Lucques, Italy

Watercolours, Lucca Center of Contemporary Art, Lucques, Italy

Opere 1971 – 2010, Museo Provinciale di Lecce, Lucques, Italy

Galerie IUFM, 11th contemporary art biennale of Lyon, Lyon, France

2010

Pinacoteca Comunale Casa Rusca, Locarno, Italy

Boca Raton Museum of Art, Miami, USA

Dessins, Impasse Beaubourg, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France

2009

Valerio Adami: Postlude, The Mayor Gallery, London, UK

2008

Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany

2007

Jusqu’ici, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France

2006

Valerio Adami, Galleria Biasutti Giampiero, Turin, Italy

Adami d’après Adami, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal

2005

Valerio Adami, Fondation d’entreprise espace écureuil pour l’art contemporain, Toulouse, France

2004

Préludes et après-ludes, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France

Valerio Adami – Rétrospective, Frissiras Museum, Athens, Greece

2002

Marlborough Gallery, New York City, USA

Valerio Adami, Marlborough Monaco, Monaco

Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland

2000

Valerio Adami – Opere 1990–2000, Galleria dello Scudo, Verona, Italy

1999

Pop Art, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Teheran, Iran

La raccolta Spajani, GAMeC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy

1998

Adami, Umberto du marino, Giuliano in Campania, Italy

Museo de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1996

Palazzo delle Stelline, Milan, Italy

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

1994

Magazzini del Sale, Sienne, Italy

Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, Italy

Valerio Adami, rétrospective, Bochum Museum, Bochum, Germany

1990

IVAM, Centro Julio Gonzales, Valencia, Spain

1986

Valerio Adami, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy

1985

Valerio Adami, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

1984

Marisa Del Re Gallery, New York City, USA

1983

Galerie Maeght, Paris, France

Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1979

Museo d’Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico

Retrospective, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

1978

Dessins, Transgaarden de Hellrup, Copenhagen, Denmark

1976

Galerie Maeght, Barcelona, Spain

CAPC musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux, France

1975

Galerie Maeght, Zürich, Switzerland

1973

Valerio Adami – Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

1972

Galerie Maeght, Zürich, Switzerland

Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela

Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf, Germany

1970

Rétrospective, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France

Galerie Maeght, Zürich, Switzerland

1966

Galleria Schwartz, Milan, Italy

Galleria Marconi, Milan, Italy

Brussels Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium

Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela

1964

Galerie Krugier, Geneva, Switzerland

Group exhibitions (selection)

2022

Collection Collective ACMCM, à cent mètres du centre du monde, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Perpignan, France

2021

No More Boring Art! The Other Side, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium

Narrative Figuration 60s – 70s, Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York City, USA Dérives, Galerie Popy Arvani, Paris, France

2020

Figurez-vous… Adami, Erro, Guyomard, Klassen, Palais des Arts et du Festival, Dinard, France

“Nous sommes faits de l’étoffe de nos rêves et notre petite vie est entourée de sommeil”, Galerie Popy Arvani,

2019

Un monde, un seul, pour demeure, FRAC Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France

Histoire de l’art cherche personnages…, CAPC – Musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux, France Demons in Line, Team Gallery, New York City, USA

The Pictionary individual, Harkawik, Los Angeles, USA

2018

Io sono una poesia. Parole sui muri e le arti negli anni Sessanta tra Modena e Reggio Emilia, Musei Civici di Modena, Modena, Italy

Testimonianze – Composizioni Materiche E Oggettuali Dagli Anni ’60 Ad Oggi, Galleria d’Arte 2000 & Novecento, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Pictures without Shadows – A selection from the Kemp Collection, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany

2017

40th anniversary. Twentieth Century Art Collection. 1977-2017, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Alicante (MACA), Alicante, Spain

HOP!, Musée d’Ixelles, Bruxelles, Belgium

Exposition de l’été, Galerie Popy Arvani, Paris, France

Giugno Italiano, nm>contemporary, Monaco, Monaco

Landscapes. Declinazioni in giallo e in verde, Galleria d’Arte 2000 & Novecento, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Nummeriert Und Handsigniert – Ausgewaehlte Graphik Und Skulptur, Die Galerie – Frankfurt, Germany

Georges Pompidou, Une aventure du regard et de l’art, Domaine national de Chambord, France

La Nouvelle Figuration Européenne : 1964 – 1976, Galerie du Griffon, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Mondalité, Fondation Boghossian-Villa Empain, Bruxelles, Belgium

2016

ROSSO, Anna Maria Consadori, Milan, Italy

Sternstunde – 100 Zeichnungen, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany

Italia Pop. L’Arte Negli Anni Del Boom, Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Parme, Italy

Minimenta 2016, Galerie Popy Arvani, Paris, France

Perdidos en la ciudad/ La vida urbana en las colecciones del IVAM, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain

Italian Pop, Tornabuoni Art London, London, UK

Adami, Del Pezzo, Schifano, Tadini (50 anni dopo…), Fondazione Marconi, Milan, Italy

Juste pour le plaisir (A&B), Centre d’art contemporain à cent mètres du centre du monde, Perpignan, France

2015

The Silo, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

Cart(E), Galleria Cart, Monza, Italy

1965-2015. 50 anni dallo Studio Marconi alla Fondazione Marconi, Fondazione Marconi, Milan, Italiy

Arte contemporáneo en la colección Himalaya, Museo de Albacete, Albacete, Spain

Figuration Narrative : Paris 1960-1975, Art Collection S.à r.l, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

INTIMATE SPHERES, MA Galerie, Paris, France

2014

Figuration narrative, Adami, Erro, Klasen, Monory, Morteyrol, Velickovic, Atelier Gabrielle, Salernes, France

Estampes et œuvres sur papier, Galerie Atelier 28, Lyon, France

2013

Collection LGR, MAMAC, Nice, France

Foire Européenne d’Art Contemporain, Parc des expositions, Strasbourg, France

2010

Arte Svelata, Palazzo Magnani, Reggio nell’Emilia, Italy

2009

Riccardo Licata e gli amici di Venezia e Parigi, Palazzo della Promotrice delle Belle Arti, Turin, Italy

Pop, Polit und Pin ups. Pop Art Grafik aus der Sammlung Beck, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, Bietigheim- Bissingen, Germany

Fixsterne: 100 Jahre Kunst auf Papier, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany

Hot Spots, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ; Milan, Turin, Italy ; Los Angeles, USA ; Zürich, Switzerland

Passion d’art, Collection privées Musée Éphémère, Montélimar, France

Italics: Italian Art between Tradition and Revolution 1968–2008, Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, Chicago, USA

2008

La Figuration narrative, Grand Palais, Paris, France

Signe écriture signe, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Liège, Belgium

Time & Place, Milano–Torino 1958–1968, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

Camilla et Valério Adami, Elsa Triolet and Louis Aragon’s house, Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines, France

2007

Arte italiana 1968–2007 Pittura, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy

2006

Selecció del fons de la galeria, Art Vall, Andorra la Vella, Andora

Italian Pop, Mayor Gallery, London, UK

Artists and Their Models, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, China

Arbeiten auf Papier, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany

Marlborough Monaco, Monaco

2005

Anthropography III, Frissiras Museum, Athens, Greece

Obras Maestras del Siglo XX en las Colecciones del IVAM, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, Segovia, Spain

Hommage à Matisse, Artiscope, Brussels, Belgium

Bologna contemporanea, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy

Eye of the Storm: The IMMA Collection, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland

Pop Art Italia, Galleria Civica di Modena, Modena, Italy

2004

Suggestioni astratte e figurative, Galleria d’Arte 2000 & Novecento, Reggio nell’Emilia, Italy

Walter Benjamin und die Kunst der Gegenwart / Schrift – Bilder – Denken, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany

Christmas Art Gifts, Artiscope, Brussels, Belgium

Frissiras Museum, Athens, Greece

2003

Anthropogeography – The Human Figure at the Beginning of the 21st Century, Frissiras Museum, Athens, Greece

Marlborough Monaco, Monaco

2000

Une ville – une collection, Centre de la gravure et de l’image imprimée, La Louvière, France

1996

Festival de Spoleto, Perugia, Italy

Acquisitions récentes du Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art, Casino Luxembourg, Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

1995

46th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

1989

Une histoire de collection : dons 1984–1989, Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada

1988

Gran Pavese, The Flag Project, M HKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

1987

Hommage à Ferrari, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France

1985

13th Paris Biennale, Paris, France

1978

Le Disque, médium artistique : du futurisme à l’art conceptuel, Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada

From Nature to Art, from Art to Nature, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

1977

Documenta IV, Kassel, Germany

1968

Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

1964

Documenta III, Kassel, Germany

I Massacri privati, Galleria Schwartz, Milan, Italy

1961

Italian Artists, Cambridge Art Association, Boston, USA

1960

Young Italian Painters, Kamakura Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan

Public collections (selection)

Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, Germany

Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

Musée des beaux-arts, Bruxelles, Belgium

Musée d’art moderne, Liège, Belgium

Museum van Heedendaagse Kunst, Gand, Belgium

IVAM – Museo de Arte Moderno, Valence, Spain

Fondaccion Miro, Barcelone, Spain

Museum of Modern Art, Minneapolis, US

Museum of Modern Art, Pittsburg, US

Mc. Crory Corporation, New York City, US

Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland

Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Museum, Turku, Finland

Maija and Urpo Lahtinen Foundation, Villa Urpo, Tampere, Finland

Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France

Fonds national d’art contemporain, Paris, France

Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France

Musée d’art moderne de Grenoble, Grenoble, France

Musée d’art moderne, Saint-Étienne, France

Musée Cantini d’art moderne de Marseille, Marseille, France

Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

Musée Picasso, Antibes, France

Musée de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Frissiras Museum, Athènes, Greece

Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israël

Museo d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy

Museo d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy

Galleria d’Arte Moderna, BergamO, Italy

Rotterdam Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Musée Bernardo, Lisbon, Portugal

Museo de Arte Moderno, Caracas, Venezuela

Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

Enquiry