Leonardo & Andy Warhol. The Genius Experience

A trip which spans six centuries accompanied by Leonardo da Vinci and Andy Warhol, two leaders of their respective eras who are brought together in Milan, albeit four centuries apart.

It may seem rather daring to juxtapose Andy Warhol and Federico Borromeo, or the Crypt of the Holy Sepulcher with the reinterpretation of Leonardo’s Last Supper by the father of Pop Art.

At first glance it's just as jarring to compare the treasure chest that is the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Ambrosian Art Gallery), created to house artistic and cultural treasures, with the factory devised to generate mass-produced artwork theorized by an artist who was coveted by all parlors in New York (and beyond). (…)

And yet, behind the daring ingenuity of the creators of this artistic event and exhibition, is a rare chance to take a fresh look at Andy Warhol and reinterpret the thinking which underpins the relationship between art and Christianity.

This makes the exhibition an intriguing opportunity to learn more and a cultural event with lots to offer for anyone who has the patience and humility to approach it with a desire to understand, not just to find confirmation of what they already knew.

Francesco Braschi, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

Through highly evocative images and music projected with 360° effects, visitors are guided through the Milan which Leonardo da Vinci experienced, drew, and envisaged.

It concludes with Andy Warhol’s The Last Supper, the site-specific 1987 work in which the father of Pop Art reinterpreted Leonardo’s The Last Supper at his final exhibition, organized by Credito Valtellinese, at the Refettorio delle Stelline.

The journey is punctuated by themes anticipated by Leonardo’s visionary mind which have marked the history and development of Milan.

Themes include the use of water, the relationship with the land and nature, the technological and architectural innovations which brought skyscrapers and the Bosco Verticale towers to Milan.

In Milan, Leonardo invented a new way of looking at the world with his painting; his observational capabilities opened the way for the growth of science.

But there is also the Milan of music and the cohesive Milan foretold in the painting of The Last Supper, which brings us to the paintings in the Refettorio Ambrosiano and the unveiling of Warhol’s work.

For at least 500 years a potential genius has been able to realise their destiny in Milan. The genius of the individual has led to the today's Milan and is building the Milan of tomorrow.

Here, we want to celebrate Milan, genius, beauty, and, above all, every person who has contributed to making Milan the city that it is and that it will become.

Edoardo Filippo Scarpellini, Director of Gruppo MilanoCard.

The revelation after Warhol’s death of his deeply held religious beliefs (…) helped us to understand the importance that religion had on the icon’s life (…)

(…) In the same way that sacred icons are classified and studied based on how they fit into well-defined categories and canonical models, so seek to understand the meaning and position of the imagery reproduced in a changing story—one that's changing ever faster.

As a result, these reproductions enrich the original work with experience and a sense of sharing, adding far more than mechanical mass-production.

This is particularly applicable to Leonardo’s The Last Supper, which Warhol reworked several times.

He first discovered the image as a simple line-drawing reproduction in his family’s prayer book, which he would have been familiar with from early childhood.

But the place next to where Warhol’s work is located also plays a part, in its own unique way, in this dialogue between the original and the copy, between the first edition and the recycled work.

In the Crypt of the Holy Sepulcher is a reproduction of the Holy Tomb of Christ from Jerusalem, as it would have appeared to the Crusaders, who wanted to recreate it in the center of their own city, making it the beating heart of medieval Milan. (…)

And, lastly, the floor of the Crypt of the Holy Sepulcher is made from paving slabs taken from the Roman forum of Mediolanum.

These paving slabs have been trodden for nearly two millennia by men and women on a journey, searching for meaning and security in their lives, who, in many cases, they found in their relationship with Christ.

Even people who did not know about or share these beliefs were, in reality, following in the footsteps of men and women who were drawn to faith. Thanks to Warhol, this may be the case again today, in spite of everything.

Francesco Braschi, Biblioteca Ambrosiana