UniCredit Launches Virtual Gallery for Its Vast Art Collection

UniCredit has launched a new website for its UniCredit Art Collection, a digital platform aggregating over 200 works by more than 100 artists from the bank's holdings in Austria, Germany, and Italy. The collection comprises 60,000 works, predominantly modern and contemporary, with significant holdings also in Turkey, Poland, and Russia. The site, available in Italian, English, and German, features a virtual gallery with an educational section aimed at children and students. It already includes an in-depth look at the iconography of the Madonna and Child through the centuries and a focus on Italian art between the two world wars, alongside biographical cards for major artists. A program of curated exhibitions, artist interviews (including Francesco Jodice and Ruth Beraha), and updates on loans will follow. The inaugural exhibition, Inversamente, curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, explores aniconic art from the early 1960s to the 2000s, featuring works by Hans Hartung, Mario Schifano, Gerhard Richter, Shirin Neshat, and others. In the first half of 2023, UniCredit managed six short-term loans with six Italian institutions, involving 26 artworks. The bank also sponsors high-profile cultural institutions such as the Arena di Verona, La Scala in Milan, and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. This digital initiative follows a 2019 decision to divest the collection for social impact banking, reversed in 2021 to focus on valorization and accessibility.