Gemma De Angelis Testa on Collecting, Acacia, and Her Donation to Venice

Gemma De Angelis Testa, president and founder of Associazione Acacia, recently donated 105 contemporary artworks from her collection to the Civic Museums of Venice. The donation is on view at Ca' Pesaro's Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna until September 17. In an interview, she discusses her inspirations—Van Gogh, Modigliani, Morandi, and her late husband Armando Testa—and the founding of Acacia in 2003 as a collective patronage initiative to promote Italian contemporary art and establish a public museum in Milan. The association's name reflects resilience; its Acacia Prize is awarded annually to Italian artists. Since 2015, Acacia's collection of 37 works by 25 artists has been donated to Milan's Museo del Novecento. De Angelis Testa emphasizes the importance of past for future, citing Germano Celant's 1997 Venice Biennale exhibition 'Futuro, Presente, Passato' and artists like Ai Weiwei. She advises young collectors to invest time in art, reading, travel, and dialogue. On sacrality, she considers all art sacred. She sees the future as a stimulus, noting younger generations' environmental awareness and hopes for expanded public-private cultural dialogue.