Galleria dell’Oca in Rome began as an art and design bookshop near Piazza del Popolo. Founded by Luisa Laureati, it grew into a gallery where artists, writers, critics, and collectors could meet. From its beginnings in the mid-1960s until 2008, its exhibitions reflected Laureati’s interest in both the art of her own time and the Italian masters of the early twentieth century
From bookshop to gallery
In 1964, Laureati rented a space at 41 Via dell’Oca, following a suggestion from Franco Angeli. The bookshop that took shape there specialized in art, architecture, and design. Close to Piazza del Popolo, it soon became a place for conversation as well as reading.
The first exhibition, held in 1967, was devoted to Gastone Novelli’s I viaggi di Brek. A presentation of graphic works by Giulio Paolini followed in February 1968. These early shows marked the bookshop’s gradual development into an exhibition space.
Artists and exhibitions at Galleria dell’Oca
During the 1970s, Laureati expanded the gallery’s spaces and developed a sustained exhibition program. Shows dedicated to Ettore Sordini and Paul Klee took place in 1972. Itinerario mitologico followed in 1974, bringing together works by artists from different periods around the theme of myth. In 1975, the gallery presented works by Man Ray. Laureati also exhibited artists with whom she had built lasting relationships, including Franco Angeli, Tano Festa, Giosetta Fioroni, Giulio Paolini, and Roberto Matta. Alongside contemporary work, she continued to explore the art of earlier generations. This willingness to place distinct artistic voices in conversation became one of the gallery’s defining qualities.
→ Read about another historic Roman gallery, L’Obelisco
Mario Merz and the Italian masters: the 1978 exhibition
On March 15, 1978, Galleria dell’Oca opened Mario Merz. Balla, Carrà, de Chirico, de Pisis, Morandi, Savinio, Severini. The exhibition was conceived through a collaboration between Luisa Laureati Briganti, Luciano Pistoi, and Gian Enzo Sperone. Works by Merz appeared alongside paintings by seven leading figures of early twentieth-century Italian art.
The pairing invited visitors to look beyond familiar divisions between artistic generations and media. Merz’s work shared an exhibition with paintings from an earlier era, allowing unexpected visual relationships to emerge. The significance of that experiment was recognized by Palazzo Esposizioni Roma, which reconstructed the exhibition in 2022–2023 using works and documents connected to the original show.
→ Explore the 1978 exhibition and its reconstruction at Palazzo Esposizioni Roma
The gallery’s legacy
Galleria dell’Oca remained active until 2008. Its history shows how a gallery can shape artistic conversation through the works it chooses to exhibit and the relationships it builds over time. Documents in the Laureati Briganti Archive continue to provide a record of this chapter in Rome’s cultural life.
→ Explore modern artworks in the Egidi MadeinItaly catalog