A new museum dedicated to the legendary art collection of dealer Ileana Sonnabend opened in Mantua, Italy, this past weekend. Housed in the 13th-century Palazzo della Ragione, the Sonnabend Collection Mantova displays nearly 100 artworks valued at $270 million, including masterpieces by Pop artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, Arte Povera sculptors such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, and contemporary figures like Bruce Nauman. The project is a partnership between the Municipality of Mantua, the Sonnabend Collection Foundation, and Marsilio Arte, with a six-year renewable loan agreement.
This opening matters because it preserves and makes publicly accessible a collection that was largely dispersed after Sonnabend’s death in 2008, when heirs sold off a significant portion to cover estate taxes. The Sonnabend galleries were instrumental in bridging European and American avant-garde art during the 1960s and 1970s, and this museum ensures that a core part of that legacy remains on permanent view, with the mayor expressing hope it will become a permanent home for the works.