Michelangelo’s masterpiece in a new light: Robert Wilson’s tribute at Salone de Mobile 2025

The devoted Salone community is well aware that this trade fair is not just about what happens on the exhibition grounds. In Milan, the entire city centre comes alive thanks to the countless events and the design-loving visitors who flock to the Lombardy capital for the week.

So it is a special highlight that this year the trade fair organisers themselves will be present in the heart of the metropolis. On the occasion of the Euroluce light show, Salone del Mobile.Milano 2025 has invited US artist Robert Wilson to stage a light, art and sound performance at the Museo Pietà Rondanini within the historic walls of the Castello Sforzesco.

‘Mother’ allows visitors to immerse themselves in Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Pietà Rondanini, a marble statue from the mid-16th century that is one of the most important works of art in Milan. Ten years ago, Michele De Lucchi created a suitable setting for it in the castle's Spanish Hospital, which Wilson will leave untouched. Instead, his chosen medium is light, which the artist will use to illuminate an installation that measures itself against the power of the ‘unfinished’ – in an interplay with the Stabat Mater, a medieval prayer in the vocal and instrumental version by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

‘Without light, space does not exist,’ Robert Wilson explains. ‘Albert Einstein said that light is the measure of all things. For me it is always the starting point. If I have to set up an exhibition, I start with light. If I create a play or an opera, I start with light. Because light is not just a technical element, it is a living presence, an actual protagonist. Light is not a detail to be added later, it is the beginning of everything.’

‘In the year of Euroluce, opening the Salone with Robert Wilson is a dream come true,’ says Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile. ‘Mother is a work that defies convention. Exactly like the power of Michelangelo's ‘unfinished’ work, which paved the way for a new vision of sculpture.’ Opening on April 6, the 30-minute sequence of music, light and images will be on display until May 18.

During the Milan Design Week from April 6 to 13, the Stabat Mater will be performed live by the Vox Clamantis Ensemble, conducted by Jaan-Eik Tulve, and by La Risonanza, conducted by Fabio Bonizzoni.

Robert Wilson, Mother
8th April - 18th May 2025
Museo Pietà Rondanini, Castello Sforzesco

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