Breton Port (Beach)

Born in Verona, Renato Birolli (1905-1959) attended the Accademia Cignaroli. After moving to Milan, he met Carlo Carrà, and befriended Giacomo Manzù and Aligi Sassu, to whom he was united by an impulse of rebellion against the dominant artistic-cultural order, an anti-conformist attitude that led him to a clearly anti-fascist position in politics. In 1938 he joined the group of "Corrente" in which artists, critics and intelectuals are united by an expressionist tendency against the dominant officiality. Between 1943 and 1945 the drama of war and partisan struggle profoundly influenced his painting. After the conflict, in 1946 in Venice it constituted the "New Italian Artistic Secession" then "New Front of the Arts", to which Renato Guttuso, Ennio Morlotti and Emilio Vedova joined, among others. From the second half of the 1940s stays in Paris and Brittany mature the definitive detachment of Birolli from the theme and expressionistic form to reach an almost "analytical" cubism, full of facets and cuts. Characterized by a balanced compositional rhythm made of small expressive elements, "Breton Port (Beach)" evokes an abstract sea view immersed in yellow, blue and gray tones.