Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations

Are you planning to travel to Milan, or are you still figuring out your itinerary for the trip? However, taking a day to visit Milan's museums will undoubtedly enhance your experience. With a rich history of art, design, and culture, Milan offers an array of museums that can make your day truly memorable. In this article, we will introduce you to the most amazing museums in a guide you must see. Remember to save it so you can get ready for your trip.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

Architectural project by OMA, photographed by Bas Princen. Image courtesy of Fondazione Prada.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

01. Fondazione Prada

(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
In 1993, Miuccia Prada, the granddaughter of the founder of the luxury fashion brand, envisioned the creation of the Fondazione Prada. Since its establishment, the Fondazione Prada has been dedicated to exploring and commemorating the utilization of ideas as catalysts for creativity across various domains such as art, cinema, music, literature, philosophy, and science. Its new headquarters in Milan, designed by Rem Koolhaas' architecture firm, OMA, has transformed a former distillery complex dating back to the 1910s. This transformation is the result of a combination of post-industrial buildings and new spaces.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

Architectural project by OMA, photographed by Bas Princen. Image courtesy of Fondazione Prada.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
The objective of the complex is to broaden the range of spatial styles for presenting art. It combines seven pre-existing buildings with three new structures: Podium, Cinema, and Torre. The Podium serves as a gallery for hosting temporary exhibitions, constructed around the 24-karat gold-leafed; Cinema, a multimedia auditorium; and Torre, a nine-story permanent exhibition space showcasing the foundation's collection and activities.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

The Bar Luce café is entirely designed by the American director Wes Anderson. Photo by Giulia Parmigiani.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
There is another noteworthy aspect to mention about Fondazione Prada. If you get the chance to visit, why not take some time to grab a coffee? One of the pre-existing buildings houses Bar Luce, a mid-century inspired Milanese café designed by Wes Anderson, best known for the film "The Grand Budapest Hotel." It also serves as the main dining space inside its new arts center.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

02. Pirelli HangarBicocca

Pirelli HangarBicocca is a museum in Milan showcasing contemporary art exhibitions. Photograph courtesy of Flickr.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
Pirelli HangarBicocca is a non-profit foundation for contemporary art exhibitions located in the Bicocca district of Milan, Italy. The building, formerly a Pirelli factory, occupies 15,000 square meters, making it one of the largest single-level exhibition spaces in Europe. Every year, it presents major solo shows by Italian and international artists, and admission to both the space and the shows is completely free of charge.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

Tod's S/S 2023 at Milan's Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, presented alongside Anselm Kiefer's permanent installation "The Seven Heavenly Palaces" (2004). Image courtesy of Tod's.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
Pirelli HangarBicocca offers a space for experimentation, research, and dissemination where art serves as a point of reflection on the most topical themes of contemporary culture and society, providing the public with a means to connect with the art. It is also the site of a permanent installation by Anselm Kiefer. Moreover, the runway show for Tod's S/S 2023-24 collection took place inside the Pirelli Museum, with Anselm Kiefer's majestic concrete towers serving as the backdrop, embodying a sense of poetic and philosophical reflection in the intersection of fashion and art.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

03. Museo del Novecento (Museum of the Twentieth Century)

(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
The Museo del Novecento, located inside the Palazzo dell’Arengario in Piazza del Duomo, is housed in a landmark building designed by Enrico Agostino Griffini, Giovanni Muzio, Pier Giulio Magistretti, and Piero Portaluppi, which was renovated by the Rota Group. Established on December 6, 2010, the museum has the goal of spreading knowledge of 20th-century art and providing a comprehensive understanding of the collections inherited by the city of Milan over time. In addition to its primary exhibition function, the museum actively engages in conserving, investigating, and promoting Italy's cultural and artistic heritage from the 20th century, with the ultimate aim of reaching a wider audience.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

Lucio Fontana, Struttura al Neon per la IX Triennale di Milano, 1951 (2010). Image courtesy of Museo del Novecento.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
The museum contains one of the most important art collections of the twentieth century, featuring over four thousand works by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Amedeo Modigliani, Jannis Kounellis, Emilio Vedova, and Alberto Burri. One of the museum's highlights is the upper-floor rooms offering a spectacular view of the Duomo, complemented by a neon installation from Lucio Fontana.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

04. Triennale di Milano

(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

Triennale Milano © Triennale Milano. Photo Gianluca Di Ioia
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
The Triennale di Milano is a museum in Milan and is also considered Milan's foremost institution for design and culture. It conveys the complexities of the contemporary world through various artistic forms: design, architecture, and the visual, scenic, and performing arts. The museum is housed in the Palazzo dell'Arte, designed by Giovanni Muzio and built between 1931 and 1933. The objective is to discover broader and more innovative approaches to thinking, uniting the experiences of diverse cultures and languages in a single space and moment.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

05. Museo delle Culture di Milano (MUDEC Museum)

(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

MUDEC Museum (Museo delle Culture di Milano). Image courtesy of David Chipperfield.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
The concept for this cultural institution originated from the city of Milan in 1999 with the aim of repurposing a cluster of abandoned buildings situated on the grounds of the former Ansaldo factory. These once-neglected factories, notable landmarks of industrial archaeology, were subsequently transformed into workshops, studios, and innovative creative spaces. 

The distinctive architectural feature of Mudec is its geometric design, crafted with zinc and glass and envisioned by the English architect David Chipperfield. Enclosed on all sides by historical buildings with uniformly designed facades, it draws inspiration from a typical Milanese architectural style. The museum is designed to offer the community a cultural space for interaction and engagement. It showcases the municipality's ethnographic collections and hosts a diverse range of exhibitions, spanning from photography to visual art.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

06. Galleria d'Arte Moderna (GAM)

(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

Galleria d'Arte Moderna. Image courtesy of Abbonamento Musei.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
The GAM has been located at Villa Reale, also known as Villa di Belgiojoso, in honor of the eponymous Count who commissioned its creation at the end of the 18th century. This is one of the masterpieces of Neoclassicism in Milan, designed by the Austrian architect Leopoldo Pollack, a collaborator of the greatest representative of Lombard Neoclassicism, Giuseppe Piermarini, to whom the building was originally commissioned. In 1804, the Villa passed into the hands of the French government as Napoleon's Milanese residence, also taking its name, Villa Bonaparte, and becoming a sumptuous setting for lunches and dance parties. Today, the GAM houses a profusion of nineteenth-century masterpieces and international avant-garde works from the early 1900s, making it one of the most extensive collections of modern art in Italy.
(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)

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(Milan Museum Guide: 6 Must-See Art Destinations - dans le gris)
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