Alberto Burri

(Italian, 1915–1995)

Alberto Burri was an Italian artist and one of the most prominent abstract painters of the 20th century. Associated with the Arte Povera movement, he is perhaps best known for his sacchi (“sacks”) series, wherein he stitched, patched, and painted on rough burlap bags. “The words don’t mean anything to me; they talk around the picture. What I have to express appears in the picture,” he once remarked. “With the other elements it is involved in a whole chain of pulls and tensions. But this is only the architectonic structure. For the rest I have nothing to add.” Born on March 12, 1915 in Citta di Castello, Italy, he studied medicine before serving in Mussolini’s army during World War II as a doctor. Captured in Tunisia, Burri was interned at Camp Howze in Texas as a prisoner of war, where he began painting on readily available discarded burlap. After his release in 1946, he moved to Rome where his art practice turned towards abstraction. His interest in non-traditional materials continued with experiments using wood, tar, plastic, zinc oxide, pumice, PVC adhesives, and fabric. In 1960, his solo show at the Venice Biennale garnered him the Critics Prize, and in 1963, he had his first US retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He died on February 15, 1995 in Nice, France, and was the subject of a major posthumous museum retrospective in 2015 when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York presented “Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting.” Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.

Alberto Burri Artworks

Alberto Burri (1,262 results)
Senza titolo

Alberto Burri

Senza titolo

Sale Date: November 12, 2014

Auction Closed

Bianchi e Neri II (portfolio of 6), 1969

Alberto Burri

Bianchi e Neri II (portfolio of 6), 1969

Sale Date: November 5, 2014

Auction Closed

Bianco nero, 1952

Alberto Burri

Bianco nero, 1952

Sale Date: October 28, 2014

Auction Closed

Bianco, 1952

Alberto Burri

Bianco, 1952

Sale Date: October 16, 2014

Auction Closed

Bianco Plastica B 2, 1967

Alberto Burri

Bianco Plastica B 2, 1967

Sale Date: October 16, 2014

Auction Closed

Combustione plastica, 1956

Alberto Burri

Combustione plastica, 1956

Sale Date: October 16, 2014

Auction Closed

Rosso e Nero, 1955

Alberto Burri

Rosso e Nero, 1955

Sale Date: October 16, 2014

Auction Closed

Combustione, 1961

Alberto Burri

Combustione, 1961

Sale Date: October 16, 2014

Auction Closed

Bianco plastica, 1967

Alberto Burri

Bianco plastica, 1967

Sale Date: October 17, 2014

Auction Closed

Cretto, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto, 1971

Sale Date: September 20, 2014

Auction Closed

Bianchi e neri II: A-F (set of 6), 1970

Alberto Burri

Bianchi e neri II: A-F (set of 6), 1970

Sale Date: September 17, 2014

Auction Closed

Bianchi e neri I: A-F (set of 6), 1969

Alberto Burri

Bianchi e neri I: A-F (set of 6), 1969

Sale Date: September 17, 2014

Auction Closed

Combustione 1-6 (set of 6), 1965–1968

Alberto Burri

Combustione 1-6 (set of 6), 1965–1968

Sale Date: September 17, 2014

Auction Closed

Cretto C, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto C, 1971

Sale Date: September 17, 2014

Auction Closed

Cretti: A, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretti: A, 1971

Sale Date: September 18, 2014

Auction Closed

Composizione, 1948

Alberto Burri

Composizione, 1948

Sale Date: May 31, 2014

Auction Closed

Composizione, 1948

Alberto Burri

Composizione, 1948

Sale Date: July 18, 2014

Auction Closed

Multiplex 2, 1981

Alberto Burri

Multiplex 2, 1981

Sale Date: July 15, 2014

Auction Closed

Cretto Nero E, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto Nero E, 1971

Sale Date: July 15, 2014

Auction Closed

Trittico B: 1-3 (set of 3), 1973–1976

Alberto Burri

Trittico B: 1-3 (set of 3), 1973–1976

Sale Date: July 15, 2014

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1981

Alberto Burri

Untitled, 1981

Sale Date: July 2, 2014

Auction Closed

Bianco T, 1954

Alberto Burri

Bianco T, 1954

Sale Date: July 1, 2014

Auction Closed

Rosso plastica, 1968

Alberto Burri

Rosso plastica, 1968

Sale Date: July 1, 2014

Auction Closed

Cretto Nero C, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto Nero C, 1971

Sale Date: July 12, 2014

Auction Closed