Sandro Chia

1946, Florence, Italy

Sandro Chia is one of the leading figures of the Italian Transavanguardia. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, during the 1970s he gradually moved away from conceptual research and returned to a strongly figurative, emotional and narrative approach to painting.

His works are recognisable for their monumental figures, intense colours and energetic brushwork, combining references to the great Italian artistic tradition with visionary and contemporary atmospheres. Irony, memories of classical art and expressive freedom coexist within his paintings.

He has exhibited in major international museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, and has participated several times in the Venice Biennale.

The reclining figure occupies almost the entire canvas, as though the body itself had become a landscape. Vivid greens, blues and orange tones make the skin appear unreal, almost permeated by light.

There is something both theatrical and deeply human in this abandoned pose. The face turned upwards seems suspended between rest, dream and a loss of control.

Sandro Chia creates a figure that is both powerful and fragile, using colour in a free and physical way. He does not pursue realism, but presence.