Gianfranco Ferroni biography

Gianfranco Ferroni, born in Livorno on 22 February 1927 and passed away in Bergamo on 12 May 2001, was an Italian painter, a leading figure of 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 emigrated first to Milan and then to Tradate in the province of Varese. This period marked him profoundly, influencing his artistic production in the early sixties. Gianfranco Ferroni began his artistic journey as a self-taught person, due to the difficult relationship with his parents who opposed his passion for art. In 1946, he approached the environment of the Brera Academy and the Bar Giamaica in Milan, meeting important figures such as the critic Franco Passoni and artists such as Dova, Crippa and Melons. These meetings were fundamental for the development of his personal poetics. In 1949, Gianfranco Ferroni joined the Italian Communist Party, only to leave it in 1956 in protest at the events in Hungary. His adherence to Existential Realism starting from 1956, together with painters such as Guerreschi and Romagnoni, marks 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 "Italy-France" exhibition in Turin, and the following year in the Venice Biennale. These years are crucial for his recognition on 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 on the search for light and space.
In 1970, he met his future wife Carla, with whom he married in 1974. After the wedding, the family moved to Milan, where Gianfranco Ferroni set up his new studio. The following years are marked by important exhibition events, including the personal exhibition at the Galleria Documenta in Turin in 1974 and the presentation at the Galerie Du Dragon in Paris in 1977.
In the 80s, he joined the Metacosa movement, participating in numerous exhibitions and developing his graphic research, particularly in engraving and lithography. The 90s saw a calm in his works, with images full of meaning and magic. In 1993, he received the President of the Republic Award from the Accademia di San Luca and in 1994, he was the protagonist of a vast anthology at the Gallery of Modern Art in Bologna.
Gianfranco Ferroni is recognized as one of the most valid post-war Italian figurative painters and a master of etching. After his death, various exhibitions were dedicated to him, including the one at Palazzo Reale in Milan.
His art, deeply autobiographical, was a sincere expression of his experience and vision of the world, with constant attention to everyday reality and human interiority. Gianfranco Ferroni has always worked with passion and dedication, letting his works speak for him, representing his vision of reality and the human condition.