Biography
Umberto Boccioni was born on October 19, 1882, in Reggio Calabria, Italy.
In 1901 he went to Rome, where he studied design with a sign painter and attended
the Scuola Libera del Nudo at the Accademia di Belle Arti. In Rome he and
Gino Severini learned the techniques of Divisionist painting from Giacomo
Balla. Boccioni traveled in 1902 to Paris, where he studied Impressionist
and Post Impressionist painting. He participated in the Mostra dei rifiutati
in 1905 and in the Esposizione di belle arti in 1906, both in Rome.
Following a trip to Russia in 1906, Boccioni visited Padua and then moved
to Venice, where he spent the winter of 1906-07 taking
life-drawing classes at the Accademia di Belle Arti. In 1907 he settled in
Milan.
Biography
In 1909-10 Boccioni began to frequent the Famiglia Artistica, a Milanese artists' society that sponsored annual exhibitions. During this period he associated with Carlo Carrà and Luigi Russolo, and met the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. In 1910 Boccioni participated in the formulation of the two Futurist manifestos Manifesto dei pittori futuristi and Manifesto tecnico della Pittura futurista. He, Carrà, Russolo, and Severini signed the first, and were joined by Balla in signing the second. That same year Boccioni's first solo exhibition was held at the Galleria Ca' Pesaro in Venice. In the fall of 1911 the artist went to Paris, where he met Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire through Severini.
Biography
Boccioni's paintings were shown with those of Carrà, Russolo, and Severini in the first Futurist show in Paris, at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in 1912.
In July of 1915 Boccioni enlisted in the army with Marinetti, Russolo, and Antonio Sant'Elia. On August 16, 1916, Boccioni was accidentally thrown from his horse during a cavalry training exercise and was trampled. He died the following day, aged 33.