"Under the sign of the Ram". Rauschenberg alla Galleria dell'Ariete

The article focuses on the first Italian solo exhibition of combine paintings by Robert Rauschenberg, which opened in October 1961 at the Galleria dell’Ariete, the result of collaboration between Leo Castelli, the artist’s trusted dealer from 1958 onwards, and Beatrice Monti della Corte, director of the small Milanese gallery. The exhibition, generally overlooked by scholars, was a decisive turning-point for awareness of the artist in Italy and now provides us with a privileged point of view for a closer understanding of the contacts between the American and Italian milieus at the beginning of the 1960s. Through a study of reviews, correspondence and unpublished archival material, the author reconstructs the premises, genesis and fundamental resonance of the show within the art scene of that period.