Imago Museum

The Imago Museum in Pescara is a museum of modern and Impressionist art that opened in 2021 in the premises of the former headquarters of the Banco di Napoli. This three-story building from 1933, designed by engineer Camillo Guerra, is an outstanding example of Rationalist architecture. It is distinguished by a rectangular floor plan, arches with double brackets, and window openings, and its complete lack of decorative elements marks a clear break with the Art Nouveau that then dominated the city. Behind the museum on Piazza Sacro Cuore you will also find two sculptures with female features, each about 16 feet tall, created by the artist Franco Summa.

The museum's permanent collection is divided into two main sections. One part comprises 119 paintings by Scandinavian Impressionists who worked at the school founded by Kristian Zahrtmann in Civita d'Antino. Between 1883 and 1913, these artists portrayed landscapes and village scenes that struck them as primitive and untouched. The second section consists of 131 works of contemporary figurative art donated by Alfonso and Teresita Paglione. This collection features works by 73 artists of the second half of the 20th century and includes paintings, serigraphs, and sculptures spanning a range of stylistic movements, from rebellion against the Fascist dictatorship to Pop Art.

In addition to its permanent holdings, the museum hosts temporary exhibitions. The first of these was devoted to the connection between Andy Warhol and Mario Schifano in the context of Pop Art and Classicism. More than one hundred works by Warhol were set alongside more than three hundred by Schifano, including his last cycle, "Matres Matutae," which was inspired by prehistoric statues.