Jannis Kounellis - Io sono un pittore
Ceresio Investors is the Main Sponsor of the exhibition Jannis Kounellis: I Am a Painter, presented by the Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection.
20 September 2026 – 17 January 2027
The Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection presents Jannis Kounellis: Io sono un pittore, a major exhibition curated by Vincenzo de Bellis and dedicated to one of the most influential figures in contemporary European art. The project offers a radical and unprecedented interpretation of Jannis Kounellis’s oeuvre, positioning painting, for the first time, as the central key to understanding his creative journey.
Although universally recognised as a leading figure of Arte Povera and a master of installation art, Kounellis is here reconsidered through his own defining statement: “I am a painter.” A declaration that transcends technique and medium, becoming instead a way of perceiving and interpreting reality.
The exhibition brings together more than 35 works created between the late 1950s and 2014, including rarely exhibited pieces and several works being shown to the public for the first time. Rather than following a chronological narrative, the exhibition unfolds through four thematic sections spanning the entirety of the artist’s practice, bringing into dialogue works created decades apart yet connected by a shared poetic tension and conceptual inquiry.
The Olgiati Collection
The Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection, open to the public in the exhibition space adjacent to the LAC cultural centre, renews the works on display every year, drawing from its rich Collection covering 120 years of art history from the early 20th century to the present day. The Collection's focus is on Italian art that looks to the rest of the world.
