The creativity of Michelangelo Pistoletto stops in Assisi with an exhibition that explores the relationship between art, spirituality, and social responsibility, bringing together some of the artist’s most significant works: the reference is to FRANCISCUS. Fratello in arte, open to visitors from 24 April to 4 October 2026 at Rocca Maggiore. The inauguration is scheduled for 23 April 2026, at 6:00 pm at the Rocca Maggiore in Assisi, in the presence of the author who personally curated the exhibition.

The Inauguration and the Proclamation
The exhibition FRANCISCUS. Fratello in arte begins with a radical gesture by Michelangelo Pistoletto: the proclamation of Pope Francis as the “First Saint of Art”. "This is not a religious act," reads the dedicated press note, "but an action within the language of art, which recognises in Francis a figure capable of transforming life into a work and spirituality into shared responsibility." The proclamation stems from a reading of the pontiff’s pectoral cross as a “spiritual landscape”, in which the symbol opens up to a horizon of relationships based on care, peace, and harmony. In this sense, Pope Francis is recognised as a “Brother in Art”, an exemplary figure of practicing life as a creative act.

The round table
On the same day, at 4:00 pm, in Palazzo Monte Frumentario (via San Francesco), a round table discussion is scheduled to introduce the theme “Pope Francis. First Saint of Art”. Speakers will include Michelangelo Pistoletto; Father Antonio Spadaro, Under-Secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education; Cristiano Seganfreddo, Director of Flash Art; Friar Marco Moroni, Custos of the Sacred Convent of Assisi; and Monsignor Felice Accrocca, Bishop of Assisi, Nocera Umbra, Gualdo Tadino, and Foligno. Institutional greetings will be delivered by Valter Stoppini, Mayor of Assisi; Giuseppe Costa, President of Opera Laboratori; and Stefania Proietti, President of the Umbria Region; while the introduction will be provided by Giulio Proietti Bocchini, Director of the Civic Museums of Assisi. The event will be moderated by Francesco Monico, curator of the Spirituality Office of Cittadellarte.

The works on display
The exhibition features themed works that have spanned Pistoletto’s research for decades: The Time of Judgment, conTatto, the Third Paradise, and The Flags of Religions. In these, the artist develops a language capable of uniting differences, bringing together cultural, spiritual, and social systems that are seemingly distant. Works from the series Sign Art – Star of David, Square Metre of Infinity – Islamic Star, Mirror Rotation – Hindu, Trynamic Mirror of the Trinity – Christianity, and Cubic Metre of Infinity, translate religious symbols and universal geometries into open, reflective, and shared forms. The mirror, a central element in Pistoletto’s practice, is configured as an interface between reality and representation, activating the space of the work as a place of participation and including the viewer in a process of transformation.

The installation dedicated to the sanctification
The exhibition culminates in a video installation of the artistic sanctification of Pope Francis: a performative act that turns the proclamation into a collective experience, returning it to the relational dimension of art. "In this journey, holiness," the press release adds, "is not a transcendent attribute, but a practice: the ability to generate relationships, to safeguard life, and to imagine a balance between human, nature, and artifice. Art thus becomes the place where this possibility takes shape and offers itself as a shared experience."

Pistoletto's comment
“For me, in this place that resonates with the name of Francis, the exhibition embraces,” the maestro stated, “the history of the Saint, celebrating the eight-hundredth anniversary of his death. And simultaneously, the first year since the death of Pope Bergoglio, who wished to bring back to life, through his own life, the person of Francis. The artistic Sanctification at the Rocca of Assisi thus unites the new one of Pope Francis with the ancient one of the Little Friar of Assisi, with whom Jorge Bergoglio wished to be unified even in the same tomb, which indeed bears only one name: FRANCISCUS. Furthermore, from the top of the Rocca,” Pistoletto concluded, “we can see the Avenue of Olive Trees of the Third Paradise stretching out in the clearing of St. Francis’ Woodland.”