Cortona, 1883 – Paris, 1966

Severini was a multifaceted artist who participated in all the different phases of Italian and European painting of the twentieth century. After a short period spent in his hometown, he settled in Rome in 1899, where he met Boccioni, who put him in contact with Giacomo Balla, the greatest exponent of Divisionism.

In 1906 Severini moved to Paris, where he met distinguished artists such as Picasso and Apollinaire. In 1910 he signed the Futurist Manifesto, but later, detached himself from it by aligning himself with Divisionism. Despite this stylistic preference, in 1912 he participated in the Futurist exhibition at the Bernheim Jeune Gallery in Paris. The following year he held two solo exhibitions at the Marlborough Gallery in London and at the Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin, while approaching the Cubist movement.

After moving back to Italy, he returned to Paris following the outbreak of the First World War, trying to promote a fusion between Cubism and Futurism: Cubofuturism. He then slowly adopted a more neo-classical style, conforming to the new theoretical principles of the so-called return to order. In 1923 he participated in the Biennale di Roma, to then take part in the exhibitions of the Italian Novecento and in the subsequent editions of the Biennale di Roma (1931 and 1935) and in the Venice Biennale in 1932. Until the end of the Second World War Severini divided his career between Paris and Italy, returning to work ultimately on futurist themes. He died in Paris in 1966.

© GINO SEVERINI, by SIAE 2023