Mulas in Milan: the inquisitive gaze that reveals the city’s soul

Palazzo Reale, from 10 October 2024 to 2 February 2025. A close encounter with Ugo Mulas. Not a celebratory tribute, but rather a face-to-face, a one-on-one with reality filtered through the inquisitive and at times pitiless gaze of Ugo Mulas. Denis Curti and Alberto Savadori have orchestrated an exhibition that leads visitors by the hand through the creative universe of this photographer, who managed to capture the soul of Milan, its ever-shifting essence. More than 250 images, many of which are being exhibited for the first time ever, reveal the multifaceted character of Mulas. With his Leica, his faithful companion on his adventures, he immortalised the world of theatre and fashion, stealing the souls of the famous - American Pop-Art artists, intellectuals, architects, prominent figures from culture and entertainment - he portrayed cities, nudes and jewellery.

Every photograph is an epiphany, a moment of truth captured with surgical precision. Mulas did more than document reality, he interpreted it, sculpting it with light and bringing forth its most profound essence. His portraits are reflections of the soul, his urban landscapes symphonies of form and contrast. Dino Buzzati, Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Giorgio De Chirico, Arthur Miller, Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo, Louise Nevelson, Gio Ponti, Giorgio Strehler and Andy Warhol are just some of the faces that stare out at us from these images, bearing silent witness to an era. Through the penetrating gaze of Mulas, we lose ourselves in a labyrinth of emotion and memory. He was able to crystallise the fleeting moment, transforming time into image. An invitation to see the world with new eyes, to rediscover the beauty that can be found among the folds of everyday life. A tribute to a master photographer, an artist who was able to transform reality into poetry.

Opening image: Ugo Mulas, Verifica 13. Autoritratto con Nini. A Melina e Valentina, 1972; Fotografie Ugo Mulas © Eredi Ugo Mulas. Tutti i diritti riservati. Courtesy Archivio Ugo Mulas, Milano – Galleria Lia Rumma, Milano/Napoli.