Gianfranco Ferroni biography

Gianfranco Ferroni, born in Livorno on February 22, 1927, and passed away in Bergamo on May 12, 2001, was an Italian painter, a prominent figure in the Metacosa movement. His childhood was spent in the Marche region, in Ancona, where his father worked as an engineer. During the war, his family first emigrated to Milan and then to Tradate in the province of Varese. This period deeply marked him, influencing his artistic production in the early 1960s.
Gianfranco Ferroni began his artistic journey as a self-taught individual, due to the difficult relationship with his parents who opposed his passion for art. In 1946, he became involved with the environment of the Accademia di Brera and Bar Giamaica in Milan, meeting important figures such as the critic Franco Passoni and artists like Dova, Crippa, and Meloni. These encounters were fundamental for the development of his personal poetics.
In 1949, Gianfranco Ferroni joined the Italian Communist Party, only to leave it in 1956 as a protest against the events in Hungary. His adherence to Existential Realism starting in 1956, alongside painters like Guerreschi and Romagnoni, marked a turning point in his career, with a growing interest in everyday life and the "poetics of the object."
In 1957, he participated in the "Italia-Francia" exhibition in Turin, and the following year at the Venice Biennale. These years are crucial for his recognition at both a critical and public level. From 1968 to 1972, he lived in Viareggio, entering a period of isolation that heralded a new stage in his painting, increasingly focused on interiors and the exploration of light and space.
In 1970, he meets his future wife Carla, whom he marries in 1974. After the wedding, the family moves to Milan, where Gianfranco Ferroni sets up his new studio. The following years are marked by important exhibition events, including the solo exhibition at the Galleria Documenta in Turin in 1974 and the presentation at the Galerie Du Dragon in Paris in 1977.
In the 1980s, he joined the Metacosa movement, participating in numerous exhibitions and developing his graphic research, particularly in engraving and lithography. The 1990s saw a calm in his works, with images dense with meaning and magic. In 1993, he received the Presidente della Repubblica Award from the Accademia di San Luca, and in 1994, he was the subject of a large retrospective at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Bologna.
Gianfranco Ferroni is recognized as one of the most accomplished Italian figurative painters of the post-war period and a master of etching. After his death, various exhibitions were dedicated to him, including one at Palazzo Reale in Milan.
His art, deeply autobiographical, was a sincere expression of his experience and his worldview, with a constant focus on everyday reality and human interiority. Gianfranco Ferroni always worked with passion and dedication, letting his works speak for him, representing his vision of reality and the human condition.