Lugano
Giuseppe Capogrossi was born in Rome in 1900. After graduating in law, he definitively chose painting in 1926, training at the Academy of Fine Arts under Felice Carena’s guidance. During the 1930s, he regularly exhibited at the Rome Quadriennale (in 1931, 1935 and 1939) and the Venice Biennale (in 1936 and 1948). Initially, he worked in a cultured, tonal, figurative style, closely associated with the Roman School.
A turning point came in 1949–50 when Capogrossi abandoned all figurative elements in favour of a recurring modular sign — a visual alphabet — which became the core of his work until his death in 1972. This sign is not decoration, but structure: it repeats, expands and organises itself in space like abstract writing — autonomous and necessary. Capogrossi described his work as a search for internal order, stating:
‘The sign does not represent anything: it is what it is.’ — Giuseppe Capogrossi, handwritten notes, Capogrossi Archive, Rome.
Between 1951 and 1958, he participated in the main international exhibitions dedicated to European abstraction, establishing himself as a key figure in the transition from lyrical informal art to a system-based language of painting. His works are now preserved in important public collections, including the GNAM in Rome and the Centre Pompidou.