Giovanni Anselmo

Early Years and the Stromboli Experience (1934–1966)

Giovanni Anselmo was born on August 5, 1934, in Borgofranco d’Ivrea, near Turin. A self-taught artist, he was initially a painter, later exploring three-dimensional space through sculptures created with found objects and everyday materials. A decisive moment for his work came at dawn on August 16, 1965, on the summit of the Stromboli volcano, recorded in the photograph La mia ombra proiettata verso l’infinito sulla cima dello Stromboli durante l’alba del 16 agosto 1965 (My Shadow Projected Towards Infinity from the Summit of Stromboli at Dawn on 16 August 1965). From then on, his work focused on the forces and energies at play in the universe.

Arte Povera: Early Exhibitions, Torsione and Struttura che mangia (1967–1969)

In 1967 he took part in Con temp l’azione, held simultaneously in three Turin galleries, and became one of the original members of Arte Povera, the movement brought together by the critic Germano Celant alongside artists such as Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Jannis Kounellis, Giulio Paolini and Michelangelo Pistoletto. In 1968 he held his first solo exhibition at Galleria Sperone in Turin and presented a work in cotton and water as part of Arte Povera + Azioni Povere at the Antichi Arsenali in Amalfi.

Also from 1968 is Senza titolo (Struttura che mangia) (Untitled [Sculpture that Eats]), in which a head of lettuce holds two granite blocks in a tension destined to give way as the organic matter decays. The same research produced the Direzioni (Directions), in which a magnetic needle points north, and works such as Trespolo (1969), combining stone, iron, water, bread and sugar.

His work soon gained international recognition. For the seminal 1969 exhibition When Attitudes Become Form at the Kunsthalle Bern, he presented Torsione (Torsion), one of his most emblematic works: lengths of cowhide set in a concrete block, twisted as tightly as possible around a wooden pole fixed to the wall, making a permanent force of tension visible.

Infinity, Particolare and Cosmic Space (1970s)

During the 1970s, the title Infinito (Infinite) recurred in his work. This was not a metaphysical allusion: it described works caught forever in the balance between physical and cosmic space, as a result of temporal and environmental transformations. In these years he often replaced materials with words, as in Particolare (Detail, 1972), in which the word “particolare” is projected from a slide onto the surfaces and bodies it meets. The photograph Lato destro (Right Side) dates from 1970.

Biennale, Documenta and the Golden Lion (1972–2023)

He took part in Documenta V (1972) and Documenta VII (1982) in Kassel, and in the Venice Biennale in 1978, 1980 and 1990, when he was awarded the Golden Lion for painting. He also received the “Presidente della Repubblica” Prize from the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca. In his late production he investigated tensions linked to energy, magnetic fields and contrasts that allow vitality to be unleashed and portrayed, as in Mentre la terra si orienta (While the Earth Orients Itself).

His works are held in the permanent collections of museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, MAMbo in Bologna and the MADRE museum in Naples. He lived between Turin and the island of Stromboli, and died in Turin on December 18, 2023. In 2024 the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened the largest retrospective of his career, followed the same year by an exhibition at MAXXI in Rome.

Giovanni Anselmo at Repetto Gallery

From September 19 to December 18, 2026, Repetto Gallery presents in Lugano Giovanni Anselmo’s first solo exhibition in Italian-speaking Switzerland. Eight iconic works spanning more than fifty years of research trace the core themes of his practice: gravity, magnetism, energy and the infinite. Among them are the projected light of Particolare (1972–2026), the precarious balance of two Senza titolo (Untitled) works (1984; 1989–90) and Mentre la terra si orienta (2002–2026). The exhibition, which opens a series dedicated to the artists of Arte Povera, is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale, with an essay by Paolo Repetto.

Discover the Giovanni Anselmo exhibition or take the virtual tour. For information on available works by the artist, contact the gallery.