Paul Troubetzkoy. Lo scultore della Belle Époque

The GAM | Galleria d’Arte Moderna presents Paul Troubetzkoy. The Sculptor of the Belle Époque, a major retrospective dedicated to Paul Troubetzkoy, organized in collaboration with the Musée d’Orsay and CMS.Cultura as part of Milano Cortina 2026. Curated by Omar Cucciniello, the exhibition offers a wide-ranging international survey of one of the most refined portrait sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Through around eighty works, including sculptures and paintings from Italian, European, and American collections, the exhibition retraces the artist’s cosmopolitan career: from his training in Milan within the circles of the Scapigliatura to his international recognition and later successes in Paris and the United States. Celebrated for his ability to capture the vitality of his subjects through rapid and vibrant modeling, Troubetzkoy portrayed leading figures of the Belle Époque, including Gabriele D’Annunzio, Enrico Caruso, Giacomo Puccini, Giovanni Segantini, and Giovanni Boldini.

The exhibition also features the celebrated portrait of Leo Tolstoy, a figure who deeply influenced the artist, as well as works reflecting Troubetzkoy’s interest in the animal world and ethical themes such as vegetarianism. The display is enriched with paintings and archival materials that interact with the sculptures, including a portrait of the artist by Ilya Repin and works by Boldini and Joaquín Sorolla, highlighting Troubetzkoy’s connections with the leading cultural figures of his time.

The retrospective ultimately restores the modernity of a sculptor who transformed portraiture into a dynamic and vibrant form, deeply sensitive to the light and atmosphere of the Belle Époque.