Florence celebrates Slavko Kopač with a day of study
On Friday, October 17, the Museo del Novecento and the Institut Français will celebrate the artist with meetings, screenings, and the presentation of the official exhibition catalog
The monographic exhibition Slavko Kopač. The Hidden Treasure. Informal Art, Surrealism, Art Brut – hosted in the Exhibition Hall of the illustrious Academy of Design Arts until 13 November 2025 – marks the artist's return to Florence.
Curated by Pietro Nocita and Roberta Trapani, this highly anticipated first retrospective in Italy of the Franco-Croatian artist Slavko Kopač reconstructs an artistic journey of exceptional coherence and invention, marked by a constant experimental tension that runs through the key languages of the post-war period.
Slavko KopačIn conjunction with the exhibition, on Friday 17 October, the Museo del Novecento and the Institut Français Firenze will host a special day of meetings and screenings entitled: Kopač, Dubuffet, Falzoni, Breton. An international adventure between Surrealism, Informal Art and Art Brut.
A day entirely dedicated to the presentation of the official catalogue (5 Continents Editions), edited by Roberta Trapani, which brings together essays by many of the scholars attending the meeting. The event will culminate with the screening of the documentary Slavko Kopač. Barbaric Refinement by Dražen Majić, produced by ArtRencontre.
Umbrella Tree 1946, KopacBelow is the complete calendar of events
MORNING | Museo del Novecento (Starting at 9:30 a.m.)
Presentations by exhibition curator Roberta Trapani, Bernard Blistène (honorary director of the Centre Pompidou since 2021), Susanna Ragionieri (scholar of 20th-century Italian art), Michele Amedei (researcher at the University of Pisa) and Fabrice Flahutez (full professor at the Université Jean Monnet in Saint-Étienne and member of the Institut Universitaire de France).
AFTERNOON | Institut Français Florence (Starting at 3:00 p.m.)
Speakers Déborah Lehot-Couette (scientific and collections director at the Dubuffet Foundation), Pauline Goutain (deputy director of the Musée d'art Roger-Quilliot in Clermont Auvergne Métropole), Roberta Serpolli (contemporary art historian) and Pietro Nocita (co-curator of the exhibition).
Simultaneous translation available for presentations in French.
At the end of the day, there will be a screening of the documentary Slavko Kopač: Barbaric Refinement by Dražen Majić, an in-depth biographical analysis of the great Croatian artist and first curator of Art Brut, 30 years after his death.