Renato Guttuso

Renato Guttuso got married in the year 1956 to Mimise Dotti; who also modelled for him. The couple did not have any children.

He died on 18 January 1987, in Rome, at the age of 75, due to lung cancer.

Renato Guttuso was born to Gioacchino Guttuso and his wife Giuseppina d’Amico on 26 December 1912 in a town called Bagheria located close to the city of Palermo in Sicily, Italy. His father was employed as a land surveyor but in his spare time he used to paint using water colours.

Guttuso showed extraordinary gifts as a painter right from the time he was a child and in fact he started putting dates and signatures on his works like professionals by time he was an early teen. His earliest paintings are dated some time in 1925 and his work was inspired by his surroundings.

Renato Guttuso went to a school in Palermo, from where he graduated high school and later on he studied fine arts at the University of Palermo. At the university, he learnt the intricacies of the working style of leading painters of the time like Vincent Van Gogh. After 1930, Guttuso became friends with the modernist painter Pippo Rizzo and that friendship helped him in getting a foot into the artistic circles in Milan.

In 1931, Guttuso went to the Quadriennale, an exhibition in Rome that is hosted every four years. At the event he showcased his work inspired from nature and also formed a group with other Sicilian artists at the event. In Palermo, Guttuso formed the ‘The Group of Four’ with two sculptors and painter Lia Pasqualino after they started sharing the same studio for their respective work.

Guttuso along with five other artists from Sicily, hosted an exhibition in 1932 at a gallery in Milan. The exhibition was well received by the artistic community in the city. However, he could not make a living as a painter yet and had to take up the job of picture restorer at the Borghese Gallery in Rome and at another time at the gallery in Perugia.

The ‘Corrente’ artistic movement which promoted free thinking among artists devoid of any kind of ideological dogma appealed to Renato Guttuso and he became an active member of the movement. Guttuso moved to Milan in 1935 and stayed there for three years, during which he became a part of the Corrente di Vita, a cultural group. During his stay in Milan he painted ‘Fucilazione in Campagna’.

Renato Guttuso moved to Rome and made it his home in 1938. In Rome, he got acquainted with the leading artists of the time like Mario Mafai and Corrado Cagli among others. Guttuso produced his best work after moving to the capital of Italy and it all culminated in the painting ‘Crocifissione’. It is regarded as his best work, although the ruling fascists of the time denounced the painting in the severest terms.. He also joined the Communist Party at the time due to his strong anti-Fascist views.

Guttuso continued to work extensively through the Second World War years and following the end of the war in 1945, he established the ‘New Arts Front’ that aimed to promote the work of artists who had had a tough time under the fascists. He also completed the painting titled ‘Workers Resting’ at that time.

Renato Guttuso was a painter of rare talent who produced plenty of breathtaking works of art in a career that started when he was only 13 and his most important work was ‘Crocifissione’ which not only exposed the futility of war but also enraged the fascists he despised due to the overly religious imagery of the painting.