Description
Futurism (Italian: Futurismo [futuˈrizmo]) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city. Its key figures included Italian artists Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Fortunato Depero, Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla, and Luigi Russolo. Italian Futurism glorified modernity and, according to its doctrine, "aimed to liberate Italy from the weight of its past." Important Futurist works included Marinetti's 1909 Manifesto of Futurism, Boccioni's 1913 sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, Balla's 1913–1914 painting Abstract Speed + Sound, and Russolo's The Art of Noises (1913). Read more ↗
Key Artists
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Charismatic founder and ideological chief of Futurism who published the 1909 Manifesto in Le Figaro, glorifying speed, technology, industry, and the destruction of museums.
Umberto Boccioni
Supreme painter and sculptor of Italian Futurism who theorized 'force-lines' and plastic dynamism to dissolve rigid objects into the swirling energy of surrounding space.
Giacomo Balla
Senior founding painter who analyzed optical sensation and mechanical speed, rendering light rays and running figures through sequence-like frame-by-frame repetition.
Carlo Carrà
Co-signer of the 1910 Technical Manifesto whose politically charged Futurist canvases utilized sharp, fractured planes to place the viewer directly inside the center of riotous action.
Gino Severini
Paris-based Futurist ambassador who synthesized Italian dynamism with French Cubist geometry, capturing the electric nightlife, dancers, and cabarets of Montmartre.
Luigi Russolo
Futurist painter and experimental composer who authored the 1913 manifesto 'The Art of Noises' and constructed acoustic noise machines to revolutionize modern sound.
Fun Facts
Futurism officially launched on February 20, 1909, when Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti published his fiery 'Manifesto of Futurism' on the front page of the Paris newspaper Le Figaro, declaring that a roaring race car was more beautiful than the classical Greek sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace.
↗ Source: tate.org.uk
In 1913, Futurist painter and musician Luigi Russolo published the manifesto 'The Art of Noises' (L'Arte dei Rumori) and invented experimental noise-generating acoustic machines called 'Intonarumori' to bring the mechanical screeches, roars, and hums of industrial factories into concert halls.
↗ Source: moma.org
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