Who is Maurizio Cattelan: where he lives, his shocking works and his relationship with Milan
Born to provoke, strike the imagination, slap respectability and clichés and take art out of museums. Maurizio Cattelan is probably the most famous and discussed Italian artist in the world right now and he has been talked about again for the installation “One” in Bergamo : the reproduction of a child on top of the statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi in the Rotonda dei Mille where a certain panic also spread before discovering that we were in front of one of the works of the “open air” exhibition Seasons, visible until October 26.
Born in Padua in 1960 and educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Cattelan is, as mentioned above, known for his works that challenge conventions, stimulating profound reflections on the world of art, society, culture and history, as in the recent case of Bergamo where the reference to the Expedition of the Thousand and the unification of Italy is clear.
Cattelan travels a lot for work of course but lives mainly in New York, where he has established his studio. Very private regarding his family, Cattelan appears publicly when his work requires it as he did in Milan for breakfast in the Duomo , on the occasion of the opening of Art Week 2025.
The relationship with MilanMilan, we were saying. Very close is the relationship with the city that has in fact adopted him , giving him world-wide fame and becoming at the same time a stage and a source of inspiration. In addition to the exhibitions in the most important galleries and major museums in Milan, the 65-year-old artist has experimented with his artistic provocations in Milan. Among all the famous “Cattelan’s Finger” , the sculpture representing a raised middle finger, exhibited in front of the Milan Stock Exchange in September 2010, as an evident criticism of the world of finance and business. The name of the work that, after the exhibition in Piazza Affari, went around the world, is “LOVE – an acronym for “Freedom, Hate, Revenge, Eternity”
And what about the three mannequins hanging from the trees in Piazza XXIV Maggio. It was May 5, 2004 when the puppets of three children hanging from the oak tree were presented at the Darsena: jeans and T-shirt, bare feet and wide open eyes. The work, offered by the Trussardi Foundation, created a scandal.
You don't have to be an art expert to know "The Ninth Hour", the sculpture of Pope John Paul II struck by a meteorite, and "Him", a banana taped to a wall, which has been seen around the world and has sparked much discussion about the value and meaning of contemporary art. Another well-known work is "Comedian", a simple banana detaching from a wall, a symbol of how art can also be ironic and critical.
Il Giorno
