The Exhibitions Not to Miss During Milan Art Week

Could Milan become the next European hub for the international art market? Last year, Thaddaeus Ropac planting his flag in Milan set off a flurry of buzz, as did the city becoming a prime beneficiary of Italy’s “non-dom” tax regime, introduced in 2017, which initially offered wealthy new residents a flat €100,000 annual tax rate on foreign income (later increased to €200,000). The reduced VAT tax, now at 10 percent, along with the influx of capital driven by tax incentives attracting foreign investors, has further fueled enthusiasm. Traditionally, while the Italian art market has remained healthy, it has also been contained and largely provincial. Over the past two years, however, momentum in this city in particular has begun to shift. Milan’s art ecosystem has found new ways to expand, with a wave of fresh projects, often younger and more experimental in nature, emerging despite continual financial pressures caused by gentrification.

During miart this year, the city is broadening its offering with two satellite fairs. MEGA, which launched in 2024 as an experiment, has established itself as an intimate boutique salon with just 30 exhibitors, while Paris Internationale! arrives in Milan for the first time with 34 international galleries at Palazzo Galbani. Both fairs open today (April 15), ahead of miart, which opens its 30th edition on April 17 with 160 galleries from 24 countries. In the meantime, between Milan’s major institutions, the historical Milanese galleries that anchor the scene and next-generation spaces working to refresh it, there are several art exhibitions worth seeing, whether you are in town for the fairs or for Salone, the city’s long-standing, globally influential Design Week.