Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna on July 20, 1890. He attends the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna from 1907 to 1913. In 1909 he encounters the work of Paul Cézanne, an encounter that has a substantial impact on Morandi. Around 1912 he makes first contact with the Futurists. In an event of the Futurists in the Teatro del Corso in Bologna in 1914, he gets to know Umberto Boccioni and Carlo Carrà. He participates in the “First Free Futurist Exhibition” in the Galleria Sprovieri in Rome the same year.
The artist also closely examines the Cubist style of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, as well as the painting of Henri Rousseau. Around 1918/19 he turns to the “Pittura Metafisica” and takes on motifs of Giorgio de Chiricos in his paintings. He joins the group “Valori Plastici” in 1922. As early as in 1920, Morandi restricts his choice of subjetcs almost exclusively to still lifes, with the exception of a few landscapes. His favorite colors are gentle and delicate tones, such as an earthen yellow, ochre, gray blue and rose. His contemplative still lifes usually show just a few plain bottles, cups, bowls and jars, which he always arranges anew. The simple object’s plasticity is achieved by the right arrangement of light and dark areas. The objects are more and more reduced to their simple geometric shape as of the late 1930s, his stroke of brush remains visible, the attention is now turned to the application of the paint. He also dedicates his extensive graphic oeuvre and drawings to still lifes, which do not have a less harmonic and contemplative effect.
From 1914 to 1930 Giorgio Morandi works as a drawing teacher in Bologna. From 1930 to 1956 he teaches as professor for graphic art at the Accademia di Belle Arti in his hometown. Giorgio Morandi shows eleven works in his own bnooth at the first documenta in Kassel in 1955. A year later, after he had already retired, the artist goes onto his first journey abroad on occasion of a joint exhibition with Gabriele Manzù in Winterthur, which is also where he visits the collection Oskar Reinhart, the Kunsthaus Zurich and the Kunstmuseum in Basel. He is awarded the Grand Prize for Etchings at the fourth Biennale in Sao Paulo in 1957. Despite his artistic success, Giorgio Morandi leads a rather secluded life in Bologna, spending the summers in the small mountain village of Grizzana.
Giorgio Morandi dies in Bologna on June 18, 1964.
Morandi-esque - Mambo, Casa Morandi, Bologna
Giorgio Morandi: A family history - Galleria d’arte Maggiore, Bologna
Giorgio Morandi 1890–1964 - Gallery of European and American art XIX-XX centuries, Moscow.
Giorgio Morandi, i colori del silenzio. Acqueforti - De Primi Fine Art, Lugano.
A bright elegy – Giorgio Morandi - Repetto Gallery, London.
Giorgio Morandi in Spazio Caleidoscopio - Galleria d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Bergamo
Giorgio Morandi - Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris
Giorgio Morandi - Robilant + Voena, London
Giorgio Morandi - Forme, Colori, Spazio, Luce - Museo Castello San Materno, Ascona
Giorgio Morandi - Infinite Variations - Iwate Museum of Art, Morioka
Il segno inciso di Giorgio Morandi. Matrici e stampe a confronto - MAMbo - Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna
Il Segno Inciso Di Giorgio Morandi. Matrici E Stampe A Confronto - Museo Morandi, Bologna
Giorgio Morandi - Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe
Giorgio Morandi - Biografia a Fumetti - MAMbo - Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna
Giorgio Morandi - David Zwirner, New York City, NY
Giorgio Morandi: Dialogue with Morandi - National Museum Of Contemporary Art Korea - Deoksugung, Seoul
Hommage an Morandi - Stadtgalerie Brixen, Brixen
Giorgio Morandi E T C H I N G S - Hubertus Melsheimer Kunsthandel, Cologne
Giorgio Morandi - BOZAR - Palais des Beaux-Arts / Paleis voor Schone Kunsten, Brussels
Giorgio Morandi - Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London
Giorgio Morandi No Brasil - Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre
Giorgio Morandi - Museo d'Arte di Lugano, Lugano
Morandi: Still Life - Robilant + Voena, London
Giorgio Morandi - Galleria Frediano Farsetti, Florence
Giorgio Morandi: Tres acuarelas y doce aguafuertes - Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, Cuenca
Giorgio Morandi: tres acuarelas y doce aguafuertes - Museu d´Art Espanyol Contemporani (Fundación Juan March), Palma de Mallorca
Le ragioni della forma - Galleria d'Arte Maggiore, Bologna
Silenzi - Museo Fortuny, Venice
Giorgio Morandi: Tres acuarelas y doce aguafuertes - Fundación Juan March, Madrid
attorno a un'opera di Giorgio Morandi - Galleria Torbandena, Trieste
About a Painting - Galleria Torbandena, Trieste
Giorgio Morandi – Through Light - Imago Art Gallery, London
Etchings - Hubertus Melsheimer Kunsthandel, Cologne
Morandi. L'arte dell'incisione - Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, FE
Morandi: Master of Modern Still Life - The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Giorgio Morandi - MAMbo - Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna
Giorgio Morandi, 1890–1964 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY
Giorgio Morandi - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY
L’Alibi Dell’Oggetto - Morandi E Gli Sviluppi Della Natura Morta In Italia - Fondazione Licia e Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Lucca, LU
Giorgio Morandi - Paul Thiebaud Gallery - San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Giorgio Morandi - Paul Thiebaud Gallery - New York, New York City, NY
Giorgio Morandi - disegni e acquarelli 1950-1964 - Galleria dello Scudo, Verona
Secondo Morandi - Museo Morandi, Bologna
Giorgio Morandi – Zeichnung – Malerei – Radierung - Kunstverein Talstrasse e.V., Halle, Saale
Giorgio Morandi - Tätsel des Sichtbaren - Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, Siegen
Giorgio Morandi - Comparazioni - Galleria Marescalchi, Bologna
Giorgio Morandi y la naturaleza muerta en Italia - Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo
Giorgio Morandi - Landschaft - Quadrat Bottrop - Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop
Giorgio Morandi - Lucas Schoormans Gallery, New York City, NY
Giorgio Morandi - Paintings - Faggionato Fine Arts, London
Giorgio Morandi - Galería Leandro Navarro, Madrid
Giorgio Morandi - Natura morta 1914 - 1964 - Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal
Giorgio Morandi - Paul Thiebaud Gallery - San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Giorgio Morandi - J&P Fine Art, Zurich
Giorgio Morandi . Opere 1913 - 1956 - Galleria Torbandena, Trieste
Giorgio Morandi: pintura e obras sobre papel de 1914 a 1963 - Fundação Arpad Szenes – Vieira da Silva, Lisbon
Morandi - Dans l'écart du réel - Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris - MAM/ARC, Paris
Giorgio Morandi - Tate Modern, London
Giorgio Morandi - MAN - Museo d`Arte di Nuoro, Nuoro
I fotografi e Morandi - Museo Morandi, Bologna
I Morandi della Collezione Giovanardi - Museo Morandi, Bologna
Giorgio Morandi - Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik - Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur
Giorgio Morandi - Galleria Civica d´Arte Moderna e Contemporanea - GAM, Turin
Morandi - Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Morandi - exposición antológica - IVAM - Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia
Morandi. A retrospective exhibition - Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
The Later Morandi. 1950 – 1964 - Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
Giorgio Morandi - Incisioni - Galleria Goethe, Bolzano
Morandi ultimo - nature morte 1950-1963 - Galleria dello Scudo, Verona
Giorgio Morandi - nature morte 1950-1963 - Galleria dello Scudo, Verona
Expressive Ausdrucksformen - Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt
Giorgio Morandi - Musée Maillol - Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris
Giorgio Morandi - De aquarellen - Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam
Giorgio Morandi: peintures et aquarelles - Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
Giorgio Morandi - K20 Grabbeplatz, Dusseldorf
Giorgio Morandi - Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu City
Giorgio Morandi - The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Kamakura
Giorgio Morandi - Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
Giorgio Morandi - Musée Cantini, Marseille
Giorgio Morandi - Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
Giorgio Morandi - Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Giorgio Morandi - Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY
Giorgio Morandi - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Giorgio Morandi - Ölbilder, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Radierungen - Haus der Kunst München, Munich
Giorgio Morandi - 80 Radierungen - Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
Morandi etchings - The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin
Giorgio Morandi: Prints - MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY
Giorgio Morandi - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (GNAM) , Rome
Giorgio Morandi 1890 - 1964 - overzicht van zijn etsen - Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam
Giorgio Morandi - Galleria de' Foscherari, Bologna
Morandi Etchings - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Morandi Etchings - University Avenue, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
Giorgio Morandi - Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
Giorgio Morandi - Gemälde, Aquarelle, Druckgraphik - Städtisches Kunsthaus Bielefeld, Bielefeld
Rubens-Preis der Stadt Siegen - Morandi - Staedtische Galerie Haus Seel, Siegen
Giorgio Morandi - Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
Giorgio Morandi - Galleria del Cavallino, Venice
Giorgio Morandi - Galleria del Cavallino, Venice
Giorgio Morandi. opere della collezione Cardazzo - Galleria del Cavallino, Venice
Giorgio Morandi - Galleria del Cavallino, Venice