Renato Guttuso

Guttuso was a precocious artist. Already thirteen he began to paint and sign his own pictures. He frequented the studio of the futurist painter Peppe Rizzo and the artistic circles of Palermo, where he participated in his first collective exhibition. He first moved to Palermo for his studies and later to Milan, where he joined the anti-fascist struggle. His painting in recent years is pervaded by a strong expressionism, with tones of violent social denunciation. The work that makes him famous and attracts the controversy of the clergy and fascism is The Crucifixion, which for the author is "the symbol of all those who suffer outrage, prison, torture for their ideas". His canvases alternate social subjects with landscapes of the beloved Sicilian land, including the poor objects of everyday life. He moves to Rome where he opens a studio and begins to frequent the artistic circles of the capital. Among the artist's favorite subjects, the female figure, as in Women rooms, landscapes, objects, from 1967 and in particular the portraits of the inspiring muse Marta Marzotto.

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