18 Oct-17 Feb 2013. This exhibition illustrates the significance and the role played by Italy in Le Corbusier’s artistic training and architectural thinking. Following a chronological and thematic itinerary, it traces the changes in points of view and interests from which the artist – painter, architect and sculptor – examined Italian culture over the course of his life.

It highlights the years of his youth in which he travelled to Italy to study art and the Roman civilisation. It then focuses on the planning research conducted by Le Corbusier in the 1930s and his attempt to introduce his ideas to the contemporary city by seeking a commission in Italy.

Particular attention is paid to the figure of Le Corbusier the painter and this section includes his paintings from the Purism period alongside others by Carlo Carrà, Giorgio Morandi and Gino Severini. Lastly, the exhibition features the two most important projects that Le Corbusier worked on in Italy after the war: the new hospital in Venice and the Olivetti Electronic Calculation Centre at Rho, both left unbuilt due to the architect’s death in 1965.