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 News

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Alberto Burri Artworks

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

Alberto Burri (1,262 results)
Trittico C 1-3 (set of 3), 1973–1976

Alberto Burri

Trittico C 1-3 (set of 3), 1973–1976

Sale Date: September 19, 2013

Auction Closed

Trittico B, 1-3 (set of 3), 1973–1976

Alberto Burri

Trittico B, 1-3 (set of 3), 1973–1976

Sale Date: September 19, 2013

Auction Closed

Trittico A 1-3 (set of 3), 1973–1976

Alberto Burri

Trittico A 1-3 (set of 3), 1973–1976

Sale Date: September 19, 2013

Auction Closed

Composition, 1973–1976

Alberto Burri

Composition, 1973–1976

Sale Date: June 28, 2013

Auction Closed

Combustione 5, 1975

Alberto Burri

Combustione 5, 1975

Sale Date: May 31, 2013

Auction Closed

Composizione, 1950

Alberto Burri

Composizione, 1950

Sale Date: June 1, 2013

Auction Closed

Cretto nero, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto nero, 1971

Sale Date: May 25, 2013

Auction Closed

Multiplex 3, 1981

Alberto Burri

Multiplex 3, 1981

Sale Date: May 25, 2013

Auction Closed

Bianchi e neri I-F, 1967–1968

Alberto Burri

Bianchi e neri I-F, 1967–1968

Sale Date: May 25, 2013

Auction Closed

Trittico C (portfolio of 3), 1973

Alberto Burri

Trittico C (portfolio of 3), 1973

Sale Date: June 1, 2013

Auction Closed

Cretto nero, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto nero, 1971

Sale Date: May 15, 2013

Auction Closed

Cretto C (from Cretti), 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto C (from Cretti), 1971

Sale Date: May 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Catrame, 1949

Alberto Burri

Catrame, 1949

Sale Date: May 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Bianco Nero, 1969

Alberto Burri

Bianco Nero, 1969

Sale Date: May 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Cretto nero F, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto nero F, 1971

Sale Date: April 23, 2013

Auction Closed

Cretto nero B, 1971

Alberto Burri

Cretto nero B, 1971

Sale Date: April 23, 2013

Auction Closed

Cellotex B, 1977

Alberto Burri

Cellotex B, 1977

Sale Date: April 22, 2013

Auction Closed

Bianco plastica, 1965

Alberto Burri

Bianco plastica, 1965

Sale Date: April 22, 2013

Auction Closed

Cellotex, 1982

Alberto Burri

Cellotex, 1982

Sale Date: April 22, 2013

Auction Closed

Cellotex, 1983

Alberto Burri

Cellotex, 1983

Sale Date: April 22, 2013

Auction Closed

Bianchi e Neri II (portfolio of 6 w/title &..., 1969

Alberto Burri

Bianchi e Neri II (portfolio of 6 w/title &..., 1969

Sale Date: April 20, 2013

Auction Closed

Lettere (set of 6 works), 1969

Alberto Burri

Lettere (set of 6 works), 1969

Sale Date: April 10, 2013

Auction Closed

Trittico B: Tavola 1, 2 and 3 (set of 3), 1973

Alberto Burri

Trittico B: Tavola 1, 2 and 3 (set of 3), 1973

Sale Date: March 19, 2013

Auction Closed

Nero con punti rossi (Black with Red Dots), 1957

Alberto Burri

Nero con punti rossi (Black with Red Dots), 1957

Sale Date: February 13, 2013

Auction Closed

English (US)

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