‘Anatomy of a Portrait’ Profiles Fernanda Wittgens, Italy’s First Female Museum Director and an Anti-Fascist Activist

Leading the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan during and after WWII, the Venice World Premiere turns on 'the evocative power of words, music and archives, as well as a reflection on the meaning and direction of biopics'

By Roberto Prieto

Roberto Prieto

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“Anatomy of a Portrait” (“Anatomia di un Ritratto”) will have its world premiere in the Venetian Nights program of Venice Days on Sept. 4.

Directed by Francesco Clerici (“Hand Gestures”) and Mattia Colombo (“Trees That Walk,” “I Wanna Sleep With You”), the documentary pieces together the story of Fernanda Wittgens, Italy’s first female museum director. Fernanda led the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan during WWII and through its period of reconstruction. A courageous anti-fascist activist during the Mussolini regime, she was sentenced by the Fascist Special Tribunal to 20 years in prison, but was released after the war ended.

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