One of the most important documentary photographers of the twentieth century is the subject of a major retrospective in Italy this autumn. From 30 July to 1 November 2026, the atmospheric underground halls of the Centro Internazionale di Fotografia Scavi Scaligeri in Verona host a large exhibition dedicated to Dorothea Lange (1895–1965), bringing together around 200 photographs. Organised by the City of Verona and produced by CAMERA – the Italian Centre for Photography in Turin – it’s curated by Walter Guadagnini and Monica Poggi. Full details are on the Scavi Scaligeri website.
Lange needs little introduction to anyone with an interest in photographic history. Best known for Migrant Mother, one of the defining images of the last century, she was a central figure in American social documentary photography, using the camera as a tool of witness and civic testimony. As the curator and critic John Szarkowski memorably put it, she was “by choice a social observer and by instinct an artist” — a description that captures how she married documentary rigour with deep human empathy.
The exhibition traces the most intense period of her work, from the years of the Great Depression through to the wartime internment of Japanese-American citizens during the Second World War. Migration, social inequality, discrimination and environmental crisis run through a body of work that, the organisers argue, feels strikingly current — a gaze capable of observing history’s great upheavals through the lives of ordinary people. Shown in the evocative subterranean setting of the Scavi Scaligeri, it should make for a powerful encounter with images that remain as resonant now as when they were made.
For readers with an interest in documentary photography and its roots — or anyone travelling to northern Italy between now and November — it’s a rare chance to see so much of Lange’s work gathered in one place, and a worthy reminder of photography’s power as a form of social record.
Dorothea Lange in Verona: exhibition details
Photographer: Dorothea Lange (Hoboken, New Jersey, 1895 – San Francisco, 1965). Works: approximately 200 photographs. Producer: CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, Turin. Organiser: Comune di Verona (City of Verona). Curators: Walter Guadagnini and Monica Poggi. Themes: the Great Depression, the wartime internment of Japanese-American citizens, migration, social inequality, discrimination and environmental crisis. Highlight: includes Lange’s celebrated Migrant Mother.
Dates, location and tickets
The exhibition runs from 30 July to 1 November 2026 at the Centro Internazionale di Fotografia Scavi Scaligeri, Cortile Mercato Vecchio 8, Verona, with a press preview on 29 July. Opening times, admission and ticket information are available via the Scavi Scaligeri website.
