Alessandro Papetti

Who is Alessandro Papetti?

Alessandro Papetti is an Italian painter. Since being featured in the 2003 Venice Biennale, Papetti emerged as one of the most important Italian painters today. Since 1995 he has been dividing his time between Milan and Paris.

Papetti is a self-taught artist. His most noticeable influences include Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti, and his most recognizable body of work is focused on industrial archaeology, portraits and studies of nudes, frequently painted from a high-angle perspective.

He has been exhibiting since 1980. Recent museum exhibitions include the Galleria Comunale d’Arte in Cesena, Italy, and the Musei Civici di Villa Manzoni in Lecco, Italy.

In 1995 Papetti met the writer and biographer James Lord who wrote a significant critical essay on his work. James Lord wrote the following about Papetti: “The first, and perhaps the most illuminating thing to be said about the art of Alessandro Papetti is that it is profoundly Italian. No artist of course ever successfully conceals his national, traditional and psychological origins, though some are more prone to do so than others. One thinks of Van Gogh. But not Papetti. It is not his subject matter that evokes the homeland.