Aulenti

Gae Aulenti (1927) was an architect and designer. In 1992, together with Luca Ronconi, she organized the exhibit La Sala Bianca, nascita della moda italiana (The White Room: The Birth of Italian Fashion) at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. One year later, the exhibit went to the Musée des Arts de la Mode et du Textile at the Louvre in Paris. In 1994, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, she organized the exhibit The Italian Metamorphosis, in which fashion played a large part. In 1996, at the Biennale di Firenze, of which she was Vice-President, she was responsible for the exhibit Visitors along with Franca Sozzani and Luigi Settembrini.

Aulenti designed the the Musée d’Orsay in Paris

Aulenti studied with Ernesto Rogers. She designed the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which opened at the end of 1986 and for which President Mitterand awarded her the Legion d’Honneur. In 1985 she was in charge of the renovation of Palazzo Grassi in Venice, and in 1987-1995 she did the same work for the Museu d’Art de CataluŒa in Barcelona. She also did the plans for the Musèe National d’Art Moderne inside the Beaubourg in Paris. Among her most well known design objects are the Pipistrello (1966) and Parola lamps, and a round table for Fontana Arte.