Italian futurism and futurist art

Futurism was one of the most important historic avant-garde movements of the 20th century. Its “de facto” foundation took place with the publication in “Le Figaro” of the “Manifesto del futurismo” in 1909 by the Italian poet, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.

Expressing their convictions through an extensive series of manifestos, the futurists proclaimed a break with the past and with traditional art, exalting the myth of progress, of speed and of the machine. The chaos of the industrial metropolises, moving crowds, rushing trains and cars represent the new subjects of futurist painting. “A rushing motor car is more beautiful than the Nike of Samothrace”, declared Marinetti provocatively in the 1909 Manifesto.

In the artistic field, the futurists maintained the need to set a dynamic form of painting able to capture the essence of speed and the vibrations of moving objects against all older art. The dynamism of trains, aircraft, multicoloured masses and everyday actions is rendered through colour and brushstrokes highlighting the propulsive thrust of the forms. The composition is often formed of broken, rapid lines and angular patches of colour. Although initially evidently inspired by Divisionism, the movement that arose in Italy in parallel with French Impressionism, Futurism soon broke away from it, aiming at the dismantling of form and the rhythmic fragmentation of reality, with results very similar to those arrived at in France of those same years with Cubism.

Futurism underwent a further development in 1915 with the “Manifesto della Ricostruzione Futurista dell’Universo” (”Manifesto of the futurist reconstruction of the universe”), signed by Balla and Depero. The new manifesto expressed the need for a total art, extending to every aspect of existence: from music to cooking, fashion to theatre, design to advertising. In it, we read: “We want to effect this total fusion to reconstruct the universe, rendering it more cheerful; that is, recreate it totally. We will find abstract equivalents of all the forms and all the elements in the universe, and then combine them […] to form plastic compositions that we will propel”.