From June 27 to September 18, 2025, the Spazio Cattedrale at Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan will host Jorge R. Pombo – Giudizio universale, a monumental painting project that merges art, collective memory, and social reflection. Curated by Vera Agosti and Matteo Pacini, the exhibition is produced by the City of Milan and promoted by EBLand Srl with the Movimento Arte Etica. The event has been made possible thanks to the contribution of ARTantide Gallery by Paolo Mozzo.

In a place that stands as a symbol of Milan’s industrial and cultural history — once home to the renowned Carminati & Toselli, and today a venue for creativity and dialogue — Pombo’s project finds its ideal setting: a great factory within the Fabbrica.

The Catalan artist, known for his technique of “dissolution” and his continuous dialogue with the great Masters of the Renaissance, presents a radical and immersive reinterpretation of Michelangelo’s Giudizio Universale. An artwork that dissolves and recomposes before the viewer’s eyes, transforming into a participatory and immersive experience. His contemporary language also reveals the influence of Action Painting, restoring a sense of physicality and movement to painting that engages in tension with the classical Renaissance tradition.

"If I had to summarize in a single idea the reason why I wanted to paint a variation of the Sistine Chapel in 2025, I would speak of my desire to bring painting onto an overflowing, movement-filled plane," Pombo states.

2025 also marks the 550th anniversary of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s birth (1475–1564), one of the foremost figures of the Italian Renaissance. The occasion will be marked by a series of events and initiatives — of which this exhibition is an ideal part — reflecting, through Jorge R. Pombo’s visual language, on Michelangelo’s legacy and the role of painting in contemporary times.

The works on display represent about one-sixth of the total surface area planned for the completed project, which will reproduce the entire Sistine Chapel at a 1:1 scale, a five-year undertaking. On view will be Il Giudizio Universale, a 180-square-meter single canvas, along with six variations of the side walls depicting three episodes from the life of Moses and three from the life of Jesus Christ.

Though Pombo is used to working in solitude, for this project he chose to involve collaborators from socially marginalized backgrounds, offering them not only fairly paid employment but also a space for personal expression and redemption. With the support of Caritas of the City of Reggio Emilia initially, and later in Florence after his relocation, Pombo assembled a diverse team contributing to the creation of this collective work.

Tommaso Sacchi, Councillor for Culture of the City of Milan, highlights the project’s evocative power and contemporary relevance: "In an era marked by disorientation and anticipation, where humanity seems to watch passively as reality unravels, Pombo’s work asserts itself as a necessity. His monumental canvases evoke a caravan moving through the desert: blurred bodies, indistinct faces, suspended identities. A humanity on the move, fragile yet stubborn, forcefully recalling the great urgencies of our present."

Maria Fratelli, Director of Special Projects Unit and Fabbrica del Vapore, underscores the symbolic and collective value of the work: "The sin of humanity is collective — it is the shared guilt of mankind’s hubris (and here the masculine, absorbing and depriving the feminine of will, is intentionally used) that disrespects creation, the harmony of the world, its femininity."

Federica Tognon, Curator of Fabbrica del Vapore, reflects on the project’s human and social meaning: "In his version of the Last Judgment, Jorge R. Pombo makes this 'sea of humanity' the protagonist of the work’s creation. No longer merely represented subjects but representing subjects themselves, involving in the project people whose life paths have been complex and marginal, those who have most profoundly known the beauty and poverty of the human soul — the very soul that, on the biblical Day of Judgment, will be called to account."

Vera Agosti, exhibition curator, explains: "It’s not the emotion of the image’s content being painted, but the emotion lives in the brushstroke. His is meta-painting — painting that speaks of painting itself. The Spanish artist is interested in the tension between classical Renaissance language and the contemporary, between ancient painting and the filters of the past and the demands of the present."

Matteo Pacini, curator, adds: "Jorge R. Pombo not only seeks to give new meaning to painting but also offers a reflection on the value of labor in contemporary society. In this sense, Milan, with its history of factories, work, and hospitality, provides the ideal stage for a meditation encompassing art, culture, and the human condition."

During the exhibition, the public will have the opportunity to enjoy an immersive, participatory experience, observing the work from above and taking part in the making of certain parts, in line with a specific public program accompanying the project’s upcoming stages.

The project, promoted by ARTantide Gallery of Paolo Mozzo with the Movimento Arte Etica in collaboration with critic and writer Sandro Orlandi Stagl, will continue to evolve and be presented in various cities, with the aim of sharing its message of inclusion, spirituality, and collective reflection with as many people as possible.

A catalogue will be presented at the exhibition’s opening, including institutional contributions from Tommaso Sacchi, Councillor for Culture of the City of Milan, Maria Fratelli, Director of Special Projects Unit and Fabbrica del Vapore, and Federica Tognon, Curator of Fabbrica del Vapore, alongside critical essays by curators Vera Agosti and Matteo Pacini, and a piece by curator and writer Sandro Orlandi Stagl.