The Museum of Antonio Ligabue was founded in 1988 following the will of the Municipality of Gualtieri, using Sala di Giove located on piano nobile of Palazzo Bentivoglio. This Museum collected biographic and iconographic materials related to Ligabue, a painting depicting a Gorilla, a self-portrait recently purchased, pictures, engravings, copies, sculptures and documentaries that celebrate the artist.

In 2018 the museum was given in charge by Fondazione Museo Antonio Ligabue, created in 2014 with the Municipality of Gualtieri as founding partner, and is a part of the activities promoted by the Fondazione itself, that in 2015, organized a large retrospective exhibition named Ligabue, Gualtieri. Il ritorno, on the fiftieth anniversary of Antonio Ligabue’s death. The exhibition, with over 180 works including oil paintings, sculptures and graphic works, recorded a attendance of over 35,000 visitors.

After the great anthology of 2015, Antonio Ligabue Museum Foundation becomes the main reference point for the organization of temporary exhibitions dedicated to Antonio Ligabue in Italy. The Foundation, which is in close collaboration with the Municipality of Gualtieri, acquired a strong cultural capital and begins a project of the construction of a permanent museum that provides:

•  The establishment of a permanent exhibition center for Ligabue’s work, known as the main reference point for the knowledge of the work of this painter from Gualtieri in Italy;
• The enhancement of the documentary heritage owned by the Municipality of Gualtieri, which has almost 150 original documents, fundamental in the reconstruction of Antonio Ligabue’s biography;
• The establishment of a study and research center about Antonio Ligabue’s work and biographical history.

During the spring of 2018, the exhibition itinerary takes its first steps, when the first permanent exhibition of the Antonio Ligabue Museum is inaugurated. Since 2018, every spring, the museum reopens and it exhibits an ever-changing series, and in continuous expansion, of selected works thanks to the availability of private collectors. The scientific committee of the museum is chaired by Sergio Negri, the most authoritative expert in Antonio Ligabue’s work, he is the only recognized point of reference for the authentication of Ligabue’s works.