Marking the 30th anniversary of the arrival in Milan of Andy Warhol’s The Last Supper debut in Milan, the Museo del Novecento in collaboration with Gagosian Gallery presented ” The Sixty Last Suppers” a powerful work by Warhol, which approaches the scale of Leonardo’s original

It was the last of a series of repeated series of series including Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Mona Lisa, the painting focuses on the image of an architecturally framed space – the dining room – rather than on a single iconic figure.

The exhibition is set up in the spectacular Sala Fontana, overlooking the picturesque panorama of Piazza del Duomo and Palazzo Reale, under the monumental neon of Lucio Fontana

The presentation anticipates the 2019 project called “Milan and the Legacy of Leonardo 1519-2019,” which will celebrate 500 years since da Vinci’s death.

In a bizarre twist of events, “The Last Supper” was Warhol’s last project as he died one month after the exhibition opened in Milan in 1987 and it served as a powerful witness to the principles that inspired his entire artistic career.

Andy’s sudden and unexpected death transformed the original 1987 exhibition, whose inauguration in the presence of the artist had already attracted tremendous attention in a mass media event.

In 1984, the renowned gallerist Alexandre Iolas had the idea of ​​commissioning to Warhol a reflection on the famous Cenacle of Leonardo that the great Renaissance Master had painted between 1495 and 1498 in the refectory of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan on Request of Ludovico il Moro, Mayor of Milan.

Warhol’s seeming irreverence for the distinctions between the sacred and the profane, high art and commercial design reflects Warhol’s inevitable transformation of a deeply religious work into a cliché whose profound message has become muted through repetition

Warhol’s last series before he passed away on February 22, 1987 came to be a series of paintings, shown in Palazzo delle Stelline, situated right across from the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan, where Leonardo da Vinci painted his mural.

As with most of his subjects, Warhol approached The Last Supper through re-elaborations of the original, rather than through the original.

Among these were souvenirs and images produced for commercial use, but also a black and white reproduction of a well-known XIX century engraving and a sketch reproduced in a 1913 publication, the Cyclopedia of Painters and Painting.

The exhibit also looks at case studies of the original painting, which were Warhol’s artistic response to his commission.

Warhol produced almost 100 variations on the theme – screen-printed paintings, prints, papers on paper – that witness a profound involvement with the intense and spiritual Leondardo masterpiece.

Some works fit entirely with Leonardo’s painting project, while others explore details by reproducing single figures or groups with variations in orientation, scale and color

The Sixty Last Suppers work, which approaches the scale of Leonardo’s original, is one of the largest and most complex works of the project.

Step back, and it looks like a post-modern building blocked out in geometry, encased in concrete.

It was the last of a series of repeated series of series including Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Mona Lisa, the painting focuses on the image of an architecturally framed space – the dining room – rather than on a single iconic figure.

Andy Warhol 
Sixty Last Suppers, 1986 
Acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen.

“ If we move away a bit, we have the impression of an architectural panel with a sort of small space that can make this painting look like a wall made, which reproduces a replicated work right from the start. Its constitutive identity, that of being a unique and inimitable work that has led to multiplication through paintings, drawings, prints and photographs ”

“The panels that we appreciate in Andy Warhol’s invention are also the panels that divide the architectural spaces of the Museo delle Novecento’s Fontana Room which has been conceived as a major aspect of the city – so there is almost a voluntary recall between the architectural dimension of this masterpiece and also the context in which it is exposed. ” ………… Claudio Salsi

A sober black and white image of The Last Supper is repeated 60 times so that at a distance the screen printed canvas looks like a modernist building with its grid of units of identical size.

Celebrating with one of over 100 variations on the subject that the artist created reworking the original of the Italian genius: “Sixty Last Suppers” is a monumental work of 10 meters by 3 meters, where with the technique of serigraphy, the Last Supper is replicated 60 times.

A painting that also has its architectural dimension according to Claudio Salsi, director of the Museo delle Novecento, as well as a complex symbology that goes beyond simple reproduction of the image according to the models of pop culture.

An unmistakable cultural solicitation between two masters

This presentation of Sixty Last Suppers was made possible with the support and collaboration of Gagosian Gallery , as well as the participation of Jessica Beck, Associate Curator at the Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA.

The concept design was by Massimiliano Locatelli, CLS architects

The Last Supper Exhibition at the Palazzo delle Stelline,  1987

Andy Warhol in front of The Last Supper (Yellow) (1986) at the opening of Andy Warhol – Il Cenacolo at Palazzo della Stelline, Milan, January 22, 1987.

In 1984, the renowned gallerist Alexandre Iolas had the idea of ​​commissioning to Warhol a reflection on the famous Cenacle of Leonardo that the great Renaissance Master had painted between 1495 and 1498 in the refectory of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan by the request of Ludovico il Moro, Mayor of Milan.

Warhol’s last series before he passed away on February 22, 1987 came to be a series of paintings, shown in the Palazzo della Stelline, situated right across from the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan, where Leonardo da Vinci painted his mural.

The painting was made in silk-screen-print and acrylics on canvas, is square-shaped and measures 10.2 meters by 10.2 meters.

The famous motive, Jesus surrounded by his disciples, is repeated on top of itself in stark yellow.

Andy Warhol signing copies of Interview magazine at the opening of Andy Warhol – Il Cenacolo at Palazzo delle Stelline, Milan, January 22, 1987

Andy Warhol in front of The Last Supper (Red) (1986) at the opening of Andy Warhol – Il Cenacolo at Palazzo delle Stelline, Milan, January 22, 1987.

Andy Warhol taking photos of his artwork at the opening of Andy Warhol – Il Cenacolo at Palazzo delle Stelline, Milan, January 22, 1987.

Andy Warhol – Sixty Last Suppers Exhibition at Museo Del Novecento 2017

Private Viewing and Dinner Party hosted by Gagosian Gallery

29th March 2017

Museo Del Novecento

The Museo del Novecento, located inside the Palazzo dell’Arengario in Piazza del Duomo, hosts a collection of over four thousand works that catalyze the development of 20th century Italian art.

The Museo del Novecento was established on 6 December 2010 with the goal of spreading knowledge of 20th century art and offering a more comprehensive insight into the collections that the city of Milan has inherited over time.

Beside its core exhibition activity, the Museum is active in the conservation, investigation and promotion of 20th century Italian cultural and artistic heritage with the final aim of reaching an ever wider audience.

With an eye toward the city, the Museo del Novecento develops around multiple locations.

The Permanent Collection follows a chronological path where collective exhibitions alternate with solo art shows.

The grand spiral staircase inside the building welcomes visitors and introduces them to the visit of the Museum with the Il Quarto Stato (The Fourth Estate) by Pellizza da Volpedo.

The bookshop and the restaurant are the Museum’s meeting places.

The Neon by Lucio Fontana represents a final embrace to the city. Reflecting Milan’s feverish cultural dynamism, the Permanent Collection is essentially the story of several private collections that have been brought together thanks to the generosity and passion for art of many private collectors.

Since its inception, the collection has been augmented by major gifts from artists, collectors and philanthropists who play an active role in the growth of the Museum’s heritage, which today reflects the rich trajectory of art from the early 20th century through the present.