Fortunato Depero is considered one of the most important exponents of the “second Futurism” and played a crucial role in changing the vision of art at the beginning of the 20th century
Fortunato Depero was born in 1892 in Fondo, a small village in the Val di Non. After living in Merano for a short time, he moved to Rovereto with his family when Rovereto still belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
As a passionate art lover, he travelled to Rome in 1913 together with his partner Rosetta Amadori, a trip which represented the most important turning point both in his personal and artistic life. While in Rome, he met two well-known exponents of the Futurism movement: Giacomo Balla and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.
This special friendship turned his life upside down: he moved to Rome and became Giacomo Balla's pupil. In 1915 they wrote the 'Manifesto di Ricostruzione Futurista dell'Universo', literally 'Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe', a work in which the authors refer to themselves as 'Abstractionist Futurists'. Since its publication, Depero's life was characterised by meetings, travels and important projects, all of which significantly contributed to reshaping the worlds of advertising and design.
In 1959 he founded the Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero in the historic centre of Rovereto, nowadays a branch of the MART which can be visited. The museum houses some of the most significant works of the Trentinian artist who died in Rovereto in 1960.
