Johannesburg Art Gallery Collection at Villa Reale Monza

Sixty works from the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the most important museum in Africa, are on display at the Villa Reale di Monza. Founded in 1910 by Lady Florence Phillips with the help of Hugh Lane, the gallery holds a collection spanning Western art from the 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibition includes pieces by Picasso, Cézanne, Matisse, Munch, Gustave Courbet, Dante Gabriele Rossetti, William Turner, Claude Monet, Paul Signac, and Francis Bacon. The show is organized chronologically, starting with Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite works, moving through Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Fauvism, and ending with modernists. A small section is dedicated to contemporary African art, featuring works by George Pemba among others. The review criticizes the sparse installation and inadequate labels, noting a failure to fulfill Lady Phillips's vision of highlighting South African and African art alongside European masters.