In the early twentieth century, Italy was a fledgling nation struggling to find a balance between its past, its present and its anticipated future. The economy was booming, and a powerful sense of nationalism had developed. Yet amidst such progress were the unavoidable pressures of economic, technological, and social change. During this time, the poet Filippo Marinetti published the Futurist Manifesto, in which he stated: “Disgust and pity fills us when we look back over the past decades of political and administrative life in our kingdom and see how they have been irremediably stamped by the moral deficiency and intellectual poverty of our ruling class. With impatience and anger do we take stock of the enormous obstacles which we have to remove from the path that will lead our people towards a national life in tune with our present ideals and needs.”  Many individuals staunchly believed that the past culture should be discarded to make way for the new art of the future. The struggle to define the nature of this new art was at the heart of the short-lived Futurist movement (1909 – 1916). 

Times were changing, and the Futurists sought to “shape consciousness directly” in the light of such changes. They had a new vision of Italy that found its roots in the material and cognitive experience. Futurism appealed to all who had tired of Romanticism, decadence and sentimentality, and were eager for something more aggressive and robust. Marinetti and his followers embraced speed, violence, noise, machines, pollution, transportation, and information—all the transient impressions of the exciting new world. Other notable Futurists include: Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, Carlo Carrà, and Gino Severini. They rejected safe, conventional virtues and detested the persuasion of the past. Instead, they sought to create controversial, provocative art that pleases the viewer while still exhibiting the technological triumph of man over nature. 

Futurism drew largely from the development of Cubism, extending its techniques towards new opportunities to create a truly radical art. The Futurist painters were inspired by some of the photographic experiments that were breaking motion into small sequences. They also used repetition of lines and a wide range of angles in order to incorporate the dimension of time within the picture. Flowing brush strokes created the illusion of movement, symbolizing the constantly changing world. Colors were applied in bright and stark combinations, adhering to the Manifesto proclamation: “yellow shines forth in our flesh, that red blazes, and that green, blue and violet dance upon it with untold charms, voluptuous and caressing.”  

Inspired by the idea of a rejuvenated Italy, the Futurists sought to present a range of new experiences in their work. They were progressivists who found strength not only in artistic research, but also in political activism. Often their personal lives indulged in scandal and promiscuity, for which they made no apologies. They were proud to wear the “smear of madness” and to sweep away the artistic and political traditions of the past. Everything they embraced was to glorify their new vision and help usher their country into the modern age.