Between the 1960s and 1970s, Italy underwent a significant artistic transformation. A new generation of collectors began to conceptualise their homes as authentic spaces of dialogue between art, design, literature and everyday life – personal interiors where taste and imagination converged. Gallerists, collectors, critics and artists all contributed to shaping a cultural landscape in which the private and public spheres of art were deeply intertwined. Homes and galleries became cultural laboratories, where works of art and design were not merely displayed but assumed centre stage in narrating the lives of those who surrounded themselves with them.
The exhibition Attraverso le stanze (Through the rooms), on display at Tommaso Calabro in Milan from October 3 to December 13, 2025, invites visitors to step into three reconstructions of domestic interiors, each imagined around the vision of a different type of collector. Artworks are displayed alongside furniture and design objects from the period, evoking three distinct atmospheres and reflecting the cultural stratification of the time.
Each room explores a distinct universe: the first is animated by figures and colors rooted in the Pop tradition, in dialogue with surrealist-inspired dreamscapes and eclectic, distinctive design; the second reflects a sensibility shaped by the clarity and order of geometric abstraction, privileging formal balance and compositional rigor; the third, more dynamic and material, centers on the taste for found objects, the manipulation of matter, and the dialogue between art and everyday reality.
Attraverso le stanze is the result of a collaboration between Tommaso Calabro and Triplef, an archive of design, art, and cult inspirations, founded by Federica Formilli Fendi. Triplef is a concept dedicated to 20th Century design and fashion: a place where iconic objects, furnishings and accessories spanning a century come together in a personal and refined aesthetic narrative.
