Futurismo

Futurismo, or Italian Futurism, was an early 20th‑century avant‑garde movement that emerged in Italy and sought to redefine art, culture, and society for a modern, machine‑driven world. It began with the publication of the Futurist Manifesto by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909, which urged a break with the past and a celebration of speed, technology, youth, and violence as engines of progress.

In the visual arts, Futurists sought to convey dynamism, motion, and the energy of modern life through new forms and techniques. Leading figures included Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, Carlo Carrà, and Gino Severini. They developed concepts such as dynamism and plasticity, aiming to depict multiple viewpoints and the simultaneity of movement within a single image. Sculptors and painters experimented with fractured forms, elongated lines, and vivid, sometimes mechanical, imagery.

Futurismo extended beyond painting to literature, theater, architecture, and music. In poetry, manifestos and experimental typography complemented new rhythms and fragmented syntax. Luigi Russolo and other Futurists explored the auditory realm with noises and machines, most notably in Russolo’s manifesto The Art of Noises and his Intonarumori instruments, linking sound to urban modernity.

Political associations varied within the movement. Some Futurists endorsed radical nationalism and supported modern warfare as a cleansing force, while the relationship with fascism in the 1920s and 1930s was complex and sometimes problematic.

The movement’s influence extended beyond Italy, affecting later European avant‑garde currents, including constructivist and urban‑focused experiments. By the mid‑1920s Futurism had largely fragmented, but its ideas about speed, technology, and the dynamism of modern life left a lasting imprint on 20th‑century art and culture.