Alberto Magnelli

Alberto Magnelli, born in Florence and later settled in Paris, was a pivotal figure of postwar concrete art. A self-taught painter, he began with figuration before turning toward abstraction, influenced first by the Italian Futurists and later by encounters with Picasso, Matisse, and the Parisian avant-garde.

In 1931, inspired by the marble quarries of Carrara, he created the series Pierres éclatées, a crucial step in his move toward abstraction. These paintings present fractured stone blocks floating in undefined space, balancing mineral weight with geometric rhythm.

As Germano Celant noted, the stones “superimpose the useless weight of empty days, they sing the insignificance of life in the face of the tragedy of history.” Exhibited in Paris in 1934, the Pierres were both a breakthrough and a turning point, establishing Magnelli’s reputation and anchoring his exploration of structure, form, and lyrical abstraction.