The exhibition is part of the Exhibitions cycle with which the Palazzo delle Esposizioni proposes the reconstruction of some of the most significant exhibitions that have characterized the artistic panorama in Rome since the second half of the twentieth century.

For this second edition, the exhibition Mario Merz. Balla, Carrà, de Chirico, de Pisis, Morandi, Savinio, Severini inaugurated at the historic Galleria dell'Oca in Rome on 15 March 1978 and the result of the collaboration between Luisa Laureati Briganti, founder of the gallery, and the gallery owners Luciano Pistoi and Gian Enzo Sperone .

To be numbered among the milestones in the history of contemporary exhibitions, the exhibition is striking for the juxtaposition, completely unusual at the time, between the works of Mario Merz, a leading figure in Arte Povera, and the main Italian painters of the twentieth century. We are proposing it again today precisely by virtue of the fact that this exhibition has succeeded in breaking down stylistic, chronological and even ideological barriers, bringing together an acclaimed interpreter of those Neo-avant-gardes which in the name of an authentic relationship with the world had renounced painting, with the most famous among the artists that the world had poured it into their paintings, making Italian painting of the first half of the 20th century incandescent. The marriage was celebrated in the total absence of friction or conflicting positions. It was devised by three gallery owners, who can be considered to all intents and purposes as curators, and an artist, Mario Merz, who was exceptionally open to others. The common thread that they brought to light with "naturalness" is that of the history of art and the quality of the works, a mature expression of a process of contamination between conceptual art and the tradition of painting to which several voices contributed.