Vittorio Sgarbi’s Controversial Tribute to Jannis Kounellis

In an interview with Artribune following the death of Jannis Kounellis, Italian art critic and former politician Vittorio Sgarbi delivers a scathing assessment of the artist and Arte Povera. Sgarbi describes Kounellis’s legacy as “an edifice in ruins,” arguing that his work documents an era of catastrophe and anticipates a clash of civilizations. He accuses the art world of conformism, claiming Kounellis was a “regime artist” celebrated uncritically by critics, collectors, and institutions. Sgarbi recalls his 2011 Venice Biennale Italian Pavilion, where he included Kounellis at the suggestion of Alda Fendi, despite the artist not being nominated by a panel of 300 intellectuals. He criticizes the “triumphalist pomp” surrounding Kounellis and attributes the success of Arte Povera to a marketing operation by Germano Celant. Sgarbi predicts that within 50 years, Kounellis’s work will be forgotten, surviving only in photographs and in the homes of billionaires as status symbols. He contrasts Kounellis with lesser-known artists like Domenico Gnoli, whose auction prices now surpass those of Morandi and de Chirico. Sgarbi also attacks fellow critics, including Ludovico Pratesi and Francesco Bonami, for lack of independent thought. The interview reveals deep divisions in the Italian art world over the value of Arte Povera and the role of criticism.