Collection: Gae Aurenti (1927-2012)

An Italian female architect also known as "Madame Museum". Her work is extremely diverse, including not only architecture but also interior, furniture, industrial, product display, stage and garden design. Born in 1927 near Udine in northeastern Italy, she studied at the Polytechnic University of Milan. After working as an editor for the architectural magazine Casabella for 10 years, she began her full-fledged design career. She attracted attention with the renovation of the Fiat showroom (1969), and in the renovation of Venice's Palazzo Grassi, she used bold techniques to revive this historic 17th century building as a museum. She also achieved success with the renovation of the Louvre Museum's French Pavilion (1991) and the special venue for the Milan Triennale (1994). While continuing to work in a variety of fields as a comprehensive designer who cannot be summed up as an "architect", she also worked in a wide range of fields, from editing Casapella, which introduced innovative Italian modern design, to creating stage sets.