Studio la Città

Studio la Città is a contemporary art gallery founded in Verona in 1969 by Hélène de Franchis. From the beginning, its exhibition program has reflected her personal passions: from iconic Italian figures such as Lucio Fontana, Gianni Colombo, Giulio Paolini, and Michelangelo Pistoletto, to key international voices in minimalist and analytical abstraction—Robin Denny, Richard Smith, David Leverett, Ullrich Erben, Richard Tuttle, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, among others. In the 1970s, these artists formed a conceptual counterpoint to the rise of Pop Art. The gallery quickly established an international presence, participating consistently in the most prestigious art fairs since 1973: Art Cologne and Art Basel early on, followed by The Armory Show in New York, Expo Chicago, FIAC Paris, Art Brussels, ARCO Madrid, Shanghai Art, and in Italy, Arte Fiera Bologna, MiArt Milan, and Art Verona. Studio la Città has never drawn strict lines between abstraction and figuration. Instead, it has fostered dialogues among artists working across diverse media but united by a shared sensibility—quiet, introspective, and conceptually refined. As curator Marco Meneguzzo has noted, the gallery has, over time, become an artwork in itself—built exhibition by exhibition, season after season—shaping a distinct and enduring identity. Each exhibition, in a way, forms a piece of the larger self-portrait of its founder, Hélène de Franchis. In recent years, the gallery has curated both solo and group exhibitions within its own space as well as in significant public and private institutions—such as the Guggenheim Museum, Fondazione Cini, MAXXI, Ludwig Museum Cologne, Assicurazioni Generali, and even collaborations with film production companies. One of the gallery’s most ambitious recent projects is a monumental installation by Jacob Hashimoto, presented in the ancient spaces—dating back to the year 1000—of the Santa Maria della Scala Foundation in Siena. Hélène de Franchis passed away just a few months ago. In her memory, the exhibition The Hidden Breath of Things, curated by Alberto Fiz, has recently opened in the 16th-century Palazzo Oldofredi Tadini Botti in Torre Pallavicina. Organized by local public institutions in the province of Bergamo, the show revisits two decades of the gallery’s program and features selected works by Stuart Arends, Gabriele Basilico, Eelco Brand, Luigi Carboni, Vincenzo Castella, Arthur Duff, Anna Galtarossa, Herbert Hamak, Jacob Hashimoto, Emil Lukas, Julia Mangold, Hiroyuki Masuyama, and Franco Passalacqua. A catalogue with texts by Alberto Fiz will be published shortly. Hélène de Franchis did not leave a void—she left more than her presence. She continues to guide the gallery with new eyes. The future will reveal the full meaning of these words.