Aligi Sassu

Aligi Sassu (Milano 1912 – Pollença 2000) is a painter and sculptor. He supports the Futurism, is a member of the group Corrente and a anti-fascist. His painting is characterized by warm and bright hues, inspired by the Mediterranean atmosphere os Sardinia (his homeland). His works have got a political and social meaning; real subjects are painted with an expressionist stye. He is always influenced by contemporary life and society. The protagonists of his works change in the course of time: from famous "Red men", to horses, mythological and religious subjects, memories of Parisian Cafés. 

He approached the Futurism when he was young, thanks tho his father who knew Carrà, Boccioni, Marinetti. He studied Beato ANgelico and Masolino da Panicale and in Paris he knew the art of Matisse, Cezanne, Impressionists, Delacroix. Because of his anti-fascism he was imprisoned at Regina Coeli in Rome and he left painting for a long time. 

In 1954, after his meeting with Pablo Picasso and with the mural art of Rivera and Orozco, his Spanish period began. He bought a house in Mallorca and he started paint bulls and bullfighters and hues became more and more brilliant thanks to the use of acrylic. 

At that time he was yet a well-known painter, he received a reward from the city of Milan and from the President of Italian Republic and the European Parliament of Bruxelles committed him a mural painting.