They called it The Great Mother, but organizers of an exhibit focusing on motherhood opening this week on the sidelines of the Milan Expo world’s fair may just as well have been called Mamma mia.

Curator Massimiliano Gioni said there was some irony in the choice of theme “because motherhood and the mamma is part of the Italian stereotype, and we wanted to play with that.”

The exhibit, which previewed Tuesday, features 400 works by 139 artists, including Cindy Sherman and Yoko Ono, and focuses on motherhood as a form of nourishment to accompany the Expo theme of feeding the planet.

The exhibit at Palazzo Reale, organized by the Trussardi Foundation, follows the blockbuster Leonardo exhibit that closed in July with more than 230,000 visitors. It runs through to November 15.

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