Between Us
Estorick Collection, London
25 February – 12 April 2026

Continuing the Estorick Collection’s ongoing series of ‘interventions’ – whereby contemporary artists respond to the museum’s paintings, drawings and sculptures with works of their own – this display presents eight recent paintings by London-based Italian artist Patrizio di Massimo (b. 1983). Located across all four rooms of the Estorick’s permanent collection and hung against coloured sections of wall, di Massimo’s images engage in dialogues with works by figures such as Umberto Boccioni, Giorgio de Chirico and Renato Guttuso. Rather than tracing direct influences or art-historical lineage, the works assert their presence within the museum’s spaces as interlocutors, being arranged in such a way as to enable affinities, tensions and points of friction to emerge.

The title Between Us points to the various relationships spotlighted by di Massimo’s imagery, such as those existing between the artist and his partner, family and community; between personal history and cultural memory; and between his own paintings and those belonging to the museum. The interactions between the subjects suggest relationships that are intimate yet emotionally unresolved; tender yet psychologically complex. For di Massimo, painting represents a means of exploring these connections in a manner that meaningfully acknowledges such ambiguities. This project also carries a personal significance for the artist, who celebrated his wedding at the Estorick Collection in 2017. In this way, Between Us weaves private memory into a public and historic setting, extending its reflection on intimacy to those silent bonds that also exist between people and places.

All of the works on show are being displayed in the United Kingdom for the first time, including two new paintings executed in 2025 and 2026.