Mario Sironi

(Sassari, 1885 – Milan 1961)

Mario Sironi was one of the most famous artists of the first half of the twentieth century. During his career, Sironi adhered to different artistic currents and even founded one together with other artists, as in the case of the Novecento Italiano movement. During the years Sironi was a member of Futurism, the Italian avant-garde movement born in 1909 with the famous manifesto of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (Alessandria d’Egitto, 1876 – Bellagio, 1944). After that, for a certain period, he was also influenced by the Metaphysical current, founded in the Twenties by Giorgio de Chirico, and by Expressionist painting. In addition, Sironi moved to the forefront to revive mural painting, of which he became the most important exponent of his time.

However, his brilliant artistic career was tainted by his convinced adhesion to the fascist political movement, in which he saw a springboard for the rebirth of Italy and consequently of Italian art. During the years Sironi had close relations with the regime, for which he set up several exhibitions and many pavilions. Moreover, the painter worked as an illustrator for the Popolo d’Italia, the newspaper founded by Benito Mussolini. Because of his closeness to the regime, Sironi’s works were discredited for almost the entire second half of the twentieth century. On the other hand, in recent years there has been an ongoing re-evaluation of Sironi’s corpus that, without erasing the shame of the painter’s adherence to the fascist movement, is bringing to light the masterpieces of one of the greatest modern Italian masters.