Renato Guttuso: Painter of Modern Life

Renato Guttuso (1911-1987) is one of Italy’s most widely respected modern painters. Toward the end of the 1930s, his characteristic brand of expressionist realism vividly conveyed the angst of a generation that wanted its art to reflect the urgency of contemporary life.

Rebelling against both the formalism of abstract painting and the naturalism advocated by those within Fascism’s cultural establishment who admired Nazi aesthetics, Guttuso played a key role in forging
a style that went on to dominate Italian art through the immediate post-war years.