MICHELE CASCELLA
Michele Cascella, born in Ortona on September 7, 1892, is one of the most beloved and recognizable Italian painters of the twentieth century. Raised in a family of artists – his father Basilio was a painter, ceramist, and lithographer – he was introduced to art at a very young age. He showed an early talent for drawing and color, which was nurtured directly in his father's chromolithographic workshop, where he learned to handle inks, tools, and plates. He shared these first experiences with his brother Tommaso, also an artist.
At fifteen, Michele Cascella was already exhibiting in Milan, Turin, and even Paris, at the Galleria Druet. In those years he absorbed Symbolist and Naturalist influences, while always remaining faithful to an intimate, delicate, personal language. He grew up among colors and prints, between paper and ceramics, developing a sensitivity that would remain the distinctive trait of his entire production.
His life is an artistic journey through the seasons of the twentieth century: he participated in the First World War as a scene designer and brought to paper and canvas the humanity of soldiers, the empty horizons of the front, the devastated landscapes. After the war, he settled in Milan and began an intense exhibition activity: Rome, Paris, Brussels, London. He met Carlo Carrà, who encouraged him to develop that vein of “lyrical primitivism” that makes him unmistakable. The painter Cascella is, from the start, associated with a silent but communicative art, far from fashions and avant-gardes, but strongly emotional.
Since 1928 he has regularly participated in the Venice Biennale. He exhibits in Italy and abroad, and in the 1950s and ’60s he often stayed in the United States, where his artworks – especially landscapes, seascapes, views of Portofino, and floral compositions – met with great success. His paintings are included in important collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Brussels, and the De Saisset Gallery in California. Michele Cascella died in Milan in 1989, at the age of 97, leaving an immense legacy: a recognizable, universal painting made of light, color, and feeling.
Michele Cascella artworks
To fully understand the value of Michele Cascella's artworks, it is essential to consider his important contribution in the field of graphics. From the beginning, Cascella showed a particular aptitude for printing techniques, also thanks to his paternal heritage. Michele Cascella's lithographs represent one of the most important chapters of his production, not only for the execution quality but for the ability to convey, even on paper, the same luminous emotion found in his oil paintings.
The subjects of his lithographs reflect those of his paintings: poppy fields, Italian views, Portofino seascapes, flowers with soft or bright colors, white houses immersed in greenery. Each element is charged with poetic meaning. The painter Cascella does not limit himself to realistic representation: his vision is idealized, immersed in a clear and enveloping light. Color becomes emotion, and the stroke always maintains that sweetness that makes it recognizable in every technique.
Equally important is the production of serigraphs, which developed especially from the 1960s, when Michele Cascella became a well-known and sought-after artist also in the United States. In California and other American states, his graphic artworks enjoyed wide diffusion, also thanks to the possibility of producing limited numbered editions, signed by the artist.
Cascella's relationship with graphics is much deeper than one might think: he does not just transpose his canvases into reproductions but approaches each engraving, each print, with compositional attention and chromatic taste. Every lithograph, every serigraph, is a complete artwork, with its own internal balance. His flowers seem to pulse on paper, the skies blend lightly, the views breathe. And it is precisely this chromatic vitality, combined with graphic mastery, that makes his prints an important segment of his production.
Michele Cascella valuations
Michele Cascella's production spanned the entire twentieth century, always maintaining a strong connection with the public. This connection is also reflected today in the art market. Michele Cascella's valuations are stable, and often growing, thanks to a renewed interest in quality figurative painting. Canvas artworks, especially those made between the 1920s and ’50s, are highly sought after, particularly for floral subjects and Italian landscapes.
Graphic production, such as lithographs and serigraphs, also meets a lively market. Michele Cascella's prices for a signed and numbered lithograph can range from a few hundred to over a thousand euros, depending on the edition, print quality, and subject represented. Serigraphs, produced in smaller editions and often in bright colors, enjoy excellent consideration among collectors.
Cascella's paintings maintain excellent market performance thanks to their recognizability and strong decorative impact. Those who purchase a Cascella artwork know they are bringing home a fragment of visual poetry, a tribute to the beauty of nature, light, and the moment captured with emotion and lightness.
