ENRICO DELLA TORRE WORKS

Enrico Della Torre was an Italian painter and engraver, one of the main exponents of Italian Informalism. He was born in Pizzighettone, in the province of Cremona, in 1931. He studied at the Liceo Artistico first and then at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, attending the school of Achille Funi. In 1954, he attended the Painting School of Roberto Melli in Rome.
In 1953, he created paintings and engravings characterized by an informal naturalism inspired by the landscapes of his countryside in the Po Valley, as well as by reading the texts of the critic Francesco Arcangeli.
These works were later exhibited in 1956 in a solo show at the Galleria dell'Ariete di Milano, curated by Guido Ballo. The same year, he also exhibited at the Galleria del Circolo di Cultura di Bologna.
After a trip to Paris, he begins a new series of paintings characterized by horizontal parallel lines drawn on light and clear surfaces. In 1959, however, he creates paintings rhythmically marked by black diagonals.
In 1961, he exhibited at the Galleria George Lester in Rome together with Claudio Olivieri, and in 1963 he held a solo exhibition at the Galleria del Milione, presented in the catalog by Roberto Tassi. Between 1964 and 1967, he exhibited at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, at the Galleria Ciranna in Milan, at the Municipal Library of Palazzo Sormani in Milan, and at the Galleria Morone 6 also in Milan.
Starting from 1968, the works of Enrico Della Torre are populated with characters, animals, and visions with a lyrical-naturalistic taste.
He continues to exhibit in solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad. In 1987, a comprehensive retrospective was dedicated to him, organized by Erich Steingräber and Annegret Hoberg in Germany. In 1989, the PAC, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea di Milano, also dedicated an anthology of works on paper to him.
In 2011, he participates in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale.
Enrico Della Torre dies in 2022 in Teglio in Valtellina, where for many years he had spent part of his time amidst the tranquility of the mountains.