100 YEARS FOR BRERA. Gifts and Acquisitions from the Friends

In 2026, the Associazione Amici di Brera celebrates the centenary of its founding, marking a century of patronage, civic engagement and tangible support for the Pinacoteca di Brera.

Curated by Lorenzo Francesco Colombo, Valentina Ferrari and Alessandro Morandotti 

100 Years for Brera. Gifts and Acquisitions from the Friends traces this extraordinary story through a selection of works that entered the Pinacoteca’s collections thanks to the generosity of the Association, its members and its benefactors. Paintings, sculptures, drawings and documentary records tell a history shaped by passion, foresight and a shared sense of responsibility towards a common heritage.

The exhibition illuminates not only the artistic value of the works on display, but also the human, cultural and collecting histories that made their arrival at Brera possible.

The exhinition presents artworks not normally on view, allowing visitors to reexamine – through historical photographs, documents and printed sources – the history of the Association and its close relationship with the life of the Pinacoteca, in a tight chronological sequence from 1926 to the present day. The exhibition extends to the many masterpieces displayed in the galleries of the Pinacoteca and Palazzo Citterio, where dedicated captions identify each artwork and recount the story of its acquisition.

A companion volume, published by Centro Di (Florence) as the eleventh edition of the historic Quaderni di Brera series, traces the history of the Association and its role in enriching Brera’s collections, with biographies of its Presidents and donors and an account of the many significant gifts made to the museum by the Association and its members.