Nicola Samorì’s ‘Classical Collapse’ Serves as an Artistic Dialogue Between Milan and Naples
Two museums unite to showcase over fifty works confronting tradition through contemporary reinterpretation.
Summary
- Nicola Samorì’s Classical Collapse is a unified exhibition across the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Milan) and Museo Capodimonte (Naples)
- The show features over fifty works that confront classical tradition through excavation, rewriting and rupture
- Runs from late November through early 2026 across both locations
Nicola Samorì’s Classical Collapse exhibition unfolds simultaneously at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan and the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples, presenting itself not as two separate shows but as a unified cultural project. Curated by Demetrio Paparoni, Alberto Rocca and Eike Schmidt, the exhibition runs from late November through early 2026, symbolically bridging Northern and Southern Italy. More than fifty of Samorì’s works are displayed in dialogue with masterpieces from both institutions, creating a confrontation between the permanence of classical tradition and its reinterpretation through contemporary artistic practice.
Samorì’s approach is rooted in excavation and rewriting, destabilizing the apparent immutability of the classical canon. His paintings and sculptures often bear marks, ruptures, and distortions that challenge the viewer’s perception of beauty and permanence. At the Ambrosiana, these works engage directly with Renaissance and Baroque heritage, opening fissures into the human form and questioning the endurance of memory. Meanwhile, at Capodimonte, the exhibition emphasizes antinomies – matter versus illusion, silence versus rhythm, creation versus ruin – inviting reflection on the condition of human existence through the lens of art.
Notable works include pieces where Samorì overlays classical compositions with layers of paint that are then scraped, torn, or eroded, exposing fragments beneath. These interventions transform familiar iconography into unsettling visions, amplifying the tension between past and present. His sculptural works, similarly, bear deliberate wounds and distortions, echoing the fragility of the human body and the instability of tradition. Each artwork becomes a site of productive conflict, where heritage is not preserved as static but reimagined as dynamic and vulnerable.
Nicola Samorì’s Classical Collapse will run from November 28, 2025, to January 13, 2026, in Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan; and from November 29, 2025, to March 1, 2026, in Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples.
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
Piazza Pio XI, 2, 20123 Milano MI, Italy
Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte
Via Lucio Amelio, 2, 80131 Napoli NA, Italy
