Aligi Sassu Cavallo Impennato 1969 Milan

Aligi Sassu (17 July 1912 – 17 July 2000) was an Italian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Biography

Aligi Sassu was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, the son of Lina Pedretti (from

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

, Emilia) and Antonio Sassu (from

Sassari Sassari ( ; ; ; ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 120,497 inhabitants as of 2025, and a functional urban area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, it contains ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

). His father was one of the founders of the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

in Sassari in 1894, and had moved to Milan in 1896, where he married Pedretti in 1911. At the beginning of the 1920s, the Sassu family moved back to Sardinia to Thiesi, where Antonio opened a shop. After three years, the family returned to Milan, where Aligi got interested in art and enrolled to the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Together with his friend and designer

Bruno Munari Bruno Munari (24 October 1907 – 29 September 1998) was "one of the greatest actors of 20th-century art, design and graphics". He was an Italian artist, designer, and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts (painti ...

, he decided to introduce himself to the Futurism leader,

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye de ...

. In 1928, he wrote, together with Munari, the ''Manifesto della Pittura'' (Painting Manifesto), taking as basic assumption the display of anti-naturalistic forms. He studied

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

and the plastic nude. It was in this period that he painted ''L'Ultima cena'', a painting destined to sum up Sassu's visual poetic. In the same year he was invited to participate to the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. In 1930, in Milan, he met Giacomo Manzù, Giandante X (also known as Dante Persico) and Giuseppe Gorgerino. In 1934, Sassu started studying Delacroix and the paintings of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in Paris. In this period he also painted his first horse, a theme that would be recurrent in his future work. In 1935, he established the ''Gruppo Rosso'' with, among others, Nino Franchina and Vittorio Della Porta. In 1936, he finished one of his most known paintings, ''Il Caffè'', as well as ''Fucilazione nelle Asturie'', painted in favour of the Spanish resistance. He joined the

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

cultural movement of '' Corrente di Vita'' in 1938. After the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, he started studying

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

and moved back to Sardinia for some time. During this period, he made several paintings dedicated to the Sardinian rural life. He also studied mural painting. In 1963, he moved to

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, first to Cala de Sant Vicent then to Palma, and finally to the village of

Pollença Pollença () is a town and municipality in the northern part of the island of Mallorca, near Cap de Formentor and Alcúdia. It lies inland, about west of its port, Port de Pollença. History The origin of the name "Pollença" can be traced ba ...

. In 1967, the cycle ''Tauromachie'' was presented by the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti. Red became Sassu's favourite colour. In 1976, he worked on the frescoes of the Sant'Andrea Church in

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

. In 1964, Sassu's work mostly focused on bullfights and the landscapes of Majorca. He would spend the rest of his life living between Majorca and Monticello Brianza in Italy. In 1973, he designed the scenes and costumes of

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

's Opera the Sicilian Vespers for the reopening of the Teatro Regio in Turin. In the same year the Gallery of Modern Art in

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

dedicated a room to his work. In 1976 he completed two mosaics for the church of Sant'Andrea in

. In 1982, he presented 58 watercolours he had originally made in 1943 to illustrate

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel ''The Betrothed (Manzoni novel), The Betrothed'' (orig. ) (1827), generally ranked among ...

's '' The Betrothed''. In 1986, he completed 113 works inspired by the ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

'', three of which were purchased by the

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. In 1993, he completed "Miti del Mediterraneo", a 150 square meters mural for the new building of the European Parliament in Brussels. The following year he presented ''Manuscriptum'', a series of engraves that were included in the itinerant exhibition "The Bridges by Leonardo". In 1995, he exhibited at the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

and was nominated ''Cavaliere della Gran Croce'' by the Italian president. In 1996 he donated 362 works made between 1927 and 1996 to the city of

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

. They are currently housed at the Aligi Sassu and Foundation in the city. On 17 July 1999, the day of the artist's eighty-seventh birthday, a big retrospective on his work opened at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. In 2000 Sassu died on the day of his 88th birthday in Pollença.

References

External links

Aligi Sassu

Aligi Sassu. Painting's General Catalogue

Aligi Sassu. Cultural Association

Archive Aligi Sassu

Aligi Sassu

Aligi Sassu. Bibliography

Aligi Sassu. Exhibitions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sassu, Aligi 1912 births 2000 deaths Artists from Milan 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male sculptors Italian contemporary artists Italian modern painters Italian scenic designers Brera Academy alumni Italian people of Sardinian descent People of Emilian descent