Mariolina Bassetti on 25 years of modern Italian art sales at Christie’s

In December 2000, Mariolina Bassetti organised Christie’s first auction dedicated to Italian art made in the 20th century. It spanned the nation’s major art movements of the period, from Futurism to Metafisica, Spatialism and Arte Povera.

Among the works on offer was Achrome, a canvas covered in clay by Piero Manzoni; Cavaliere, one of Mario Marini’s bronze horses; and a frenetic abstract watercolour titled Expansion centrifuge de la lumière by Gino Severini.

Altogether, 51 lots raised £5.4 million. The top price of the sale was paid for Lucio Fontana’s punctured, egg-shaped white canvas Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio, which made £487,750, more than double its low estimate.

According to Bassetti, the sale was inspired by the exhibition The Italian Metamorphosis, 1943-1968, which opened in October 1994 at the Guggenheim in New York, and was curated by the great art historian Germano Celant — who first coined the term ‘Arte Povera’.

‘It wasn’t just a landmark show, but a watershed moment for the Italian style on the international stage,’ she explains. ‘We wanted to replicate this eclectic mix of artists and promote them to a global audience.’

Her efforts paid off. Fifteen years later, The Italian Sale at Christie’s in London realised £43 million from 55 lots — eight times more than the inaugural auction and a record total for the category.

Bidders from 42 countries pushed the price for dozens of works into seven figures. Among them was Luciano Fabro’s copper sculpture in the shape of Italy, Italia dell’emigrante, which made £2.71 million; Giorgio Morandi’s quiet still life, Natura morta, which went for £2.54 million; and Alighiero Boetti’s embroidered map of the world, Mappa, which achieved £1.14 million. Merda d’artista, a can of Manzoni’s own excrement, made double its high estimate to realise £182,500, while the top price of the evening — £3.44 million — was paid for Alberto Burri’s scorched acrylic picture Rosso Plastica M1.

Following the sale, The Art Newspaper declared that modern Italian art had ‘reached new heights’. The next month, another of Fontana’s works with the title Concetto spaziale, La fine de Dio, this time in yellow, sold at Christie’s in New York for $29 million — a record for the artist that still stands today. By 2025, Christie’s had achieved more than 35 world-record prices for major Italian artists.

Bassetti joined Christie’s in 1987, beginning her career in Rome, where the auction house’s first overseas office opened in 1958. She was promoted to head of the Modern and Contemporary Art department in Italy in 1995, and in 2011 she was made chairman of Christie’s Italy, whose headquarters are now located at the historic Palazzo Clerici in Milan.

‘It has been so satisfying, watching the modern Italian art category grow,’ she says. ‘When we began, the majority of consignors were Italian, and they were keen to sell as the prices of the works on their walls started to climb. But by 2015, as the market exploded, work started to be sourced from all over — Switzerland, Germany, America, and as far away as Japan. The profile of buyers followed the same course.’

In 2022, the sale, now called Thinking Italian, moved from London to Paris. On 22 October 2026, the landmark 25th edition will be presented as part of the 20th/21st Century: Paris Evening Sale including Thinking Italian, led by international specialist Renato Pennisi, and head of sale Giulia Centonze.

Bassetti still curates each sale in the same way as when she started. ‘We begin six months in advance, studying our database, catalogues and exhibitions to find works of the highest quality,’ she says.

‘We also sometimes work to a theme that can reflect institutional happenings. For instance, the 2015 sale was given a huge boost by ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s at the Guggenheim in New York, which highlighted artists like Fontana and Manzoni.

A favourite artist of Bassetti’s from the forthcoming sale is Giorgio de Chirico. ‘In my opinion, he is Italy’s most important modern artist,’ she says. ‘In the 1930s, he radically changed art history by delving into the subconscious and transcending reality.’

Another is Michelangelo Pistoletto. ‘His unique idea was to use mirrors to place the viewer inside the work of art, making them always present. In the forthcoming sale is Donna nuda from 1966, which is a contemporary reinterpretation of a classical female nude.

‘We also have his 1,000th work, Migrante, made in 2026. His recent output often focuses on social causes. In 2025, he was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.’

‘This year there was a fantastic Mario Schifano retrospective at the Palazzo Esposizioni Roma, and we’re pleased to be presenting his work A de Chirico, an important early painting from 1962 — his breakthrough year — that comes from the collection of Antonio Homen Sonnabend, the son of the legendary Ileana Sonnabend.’

She says she also strives to be edifying. ‘I like to make a catalogue that really spells out the importance of these artists in the art-historical canon, highlighting what inspired them, and their enduring legacy,’ she explains. ‘Italian art has had periods of being hugely influential around the world, from ancient Rome to the Renaissance. It’s now understood that this period is no exception.’

One area where Bassetti still sees room for growth, however, is in work by female Italian artists of the 20th century. ‘Carla Accardi, Giosetta Fioroni and Maria Lai are hugely important,’ she says. ‘We hold the auction record for Lai, set in the 2018 Thinking Italian sale by Lenzuolo (Bed Sheet) at £150,000 — a fraction of the prices fetched by her male peers.’

If she had to choose an all-time favourite, however, she says it would be Pino Pascali: ‘I have dedicated four or five Thinking Italian catalogue covers to him. He has a special place in my heart.’

After moving to Rome aged 20, Pascali held his first solo show a decade later, exhibiting a series of ‘fake sculptures’ — canvases stretched around wood to create the stylised shapes of animals, plants or landscapes, playing on the relationship between reality and illusion. These were followed by his best-known works, the ‘Weapons’ series, consisting of cannons, machine guns and missiles made from found materials and painted olive green. His career was tragically cut short when he died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 32.

‘Pascali represents a special period in Italy during the 1960s, when art was transforming and these artists, full of fire, would debate deep into the night with one another about its history and future,’ says Bassetti. ‘If I could go back to any period, it would be right then.’

In 2005, Bassetti made it her mission to bring one of Pascali’s works to Christie’s. ‘Driving my scooter through Rome, I stopped unannounced at the gallery of his dealer and asked for a meeting. We negotiated the consignment of Cannone ‘Bella Ciao’, arguably his most iconic work. We agreed a deal literally a week before the sale, and I left with it on a plane for New York. It’s four-and-a-half metres long, and I had to reassemble it with instructions the dealer had left me, as though I were Pascali’s assistant. Then I did the same in London, where it sold for £1.35 million.

‘It was a hugely emotional moment for me. And that’s what I think makes Italian art so special: emotion. Every Italian artist keeps the art history of this country inside of themselves. They live it and breathe it from birth, and you can feel it embedded in their work. I feel so lucky I get to spend my days with it.’

The 20th/21st Century: Paris Evening Sale including Thinking Italian is on view 16-22 October 2026 at Christie’s in Paris