Early Life and Career
Carlo Carrà, a renowned Italian painter, was born on February 11, 1881, in Quargnento, near Alessandria (Piedmont). At the age of 12, he left home to work as a mural decorator. This early exposure to art would shape his future career.
Artistic Evolution
In 1899-1900, Carrà was in Paris, decorating pavilions at the Exposition Universelle, where he became acquainted with contemporary French art. He then spent a few months in London, interacting with exiled Italian anarchists, and returned to Milan in 1901. In 1906, he enrolled at Brera Academy (Accademia di Brera) under Cesare Tallone.
Futurist Movement
In 1910, Carrà signed the Manifesto of Futurist Painters, alongside Umberto Boccioni, Luigi Russolo, and Giacomo Balla. This marked the beginning of his influential Futurist phase, characterized by dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and industrial objects.
Metaphysical and Archaic Periods
By 1917, Carrà's style began to incorporate mannequin imagery, influenced by Giorgio de Chirico. His work
The Daughters of Lot (1919) exemplifies this new direction. In the 1920s and 1930s, he focused on landscape painting, developing a more atmospheric style.
Legacy and Later Life
Carrrà's later work was marked by ultra-nationalist and irredentist views, supporting fascism after 1918. He passed away in Milan on April 13, 1966.