Swiss Collector Giancarlo Olgiati Dies at 88; His Avant-Garde Collection Shared with Lugano

Giancarlo Olgiati, a Swiss lawyer and prominent collector of 20th-century avant-garde art, died on the night of August 20, 2026, in Lugano at the age of 88. Olgiati began collecting contemporary art in the 1960s, and from 1985 he collaborated with his wife Danna, an Italian curator specializing in Futurism. In 2012, the couple gave their collection in usufruct to the city of Lugano, making it publicly accessible. The collection, now housed in the underground spaces of the MASI (Spazio -1, adjacent to the LAC cultural center), comprises over 200 works from a total of more than 1,200 collected by the couple. It includes significant pieces related to Arte Povera, as well as works exploring Spatialism, Nouveau Réalisme, and neo-abstract and neo-pop tendencies from the early 2000s. The collection has been shown through rotating exhibitions, with past shows dedicated to Prampolini and Burri (2025), Yves Klein and Arman (2024), and an upcoming exhibition 'Jannis Kounellis: Io sono un pittore' curated by Vincenzo de Bellis, opening September 20, 2026. Olgiati's passion for art was sparked in 1962 when his father sent him to Düsseldorf, where he saw Yves Klein's blues at Galerie Schmela. He began collecting in 1975, influenced by Nouveau Réalisme and Arman. He avoided auctions, preferring advice from gallerists who knew his collection. The MASI remembered him as a 'friend and far-sighted supporter of the Museum, a cultured and refined collector.'