Pinacoteca di Brera, Art museum in Palazzo Brera, Milan, Italy.
The Pinacoteca di Brera is an art gallery occupying the first floor of Palazzo Brera in Milan, displaying paintings by Italian and European masters from the 13th through the 20th centuries. The exhibition unfolds across 38 rooms arranged according to chronological and regional groupings.
Maria Theresa of Austria founded the institution in 1776 inside a former Jesuit palace that had earlier served as a monastery for the Humiliati order. Napoleon expanded the holdings dramatically by systematically confiscating artworks from dissolved monasteries and churches throughout the region.
The collection gathers devotional panels and altarpieces taken from churches and monasteries across Lombardy during the Napoleonic period. Many of these paintings were created for specific religious settings and still carry the marks of their original purpose.
The building opens Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 to 18:30, closing on Mondays. On the first Sunday of every month, admission is free for all visitors.
The central courtyard holds a bronze statue of Napoleon depicted as a Roman emperor. The figure was sculpted by Antonio Canova, who later disowned it and never fully endorsed the work.
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