Movement

1901

Moves to Rome

In 1901 Boccioni moved to Rome and studied painting at the Free School of the Nude (Scuola Libera del Nudo) of the Academy of Fine Arts.

1901–1902

Studies under Giacomo Balla

Together with Gino Severini, Boccioni studied the pointillist technique under Giacomo Balla; in 1901–1902 Balla introduced the two to his own manner of painting, which had grown out of Divisionism.

1907

Moves to Milan

In 1907 Boccioni settled in Milan, in the artists’ quarter of Corvetto, where he got to know the representatives of Futurism.

early 1910

Meets Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

In early 1910 Boccioni met Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who had published his Manifesto of Futurism the year before.

11 February 1910

Signs the “Manifesto of Futurist Painters”

On 11 February 1910 Boccioni signed the Manifesto of Futurist Painters together with Giacomo Balla, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo and Gino Severini.

1911

“The City Rises” on show in Milan

In May 1911 “The City Rises” went on show in Milan: a huge canvas, 2 by 3 metres, on which Boccioni had worked for nearly a year, attempting, as he wrote to a friend, “a great synthesis of labor, light and movement”. It attracted numerous reviews, mostly admiring.