Conceptual artist and painter – but also poet, writer, novelist, playwright and director – Emilio Isgrò (1937) was born in Barcellona, Sicily.

Isgrò has created one of the most revolutionary and original works in the so-called second avant-garde of the Sixties, which has earned him several participations at the Venice Biennale (1972, 1978, 1986, 1993) and the first prize at the São Paulo Biennale (1977). In 1964 he realized his first Cancellature (Erasures), making them the focus of all his research ever since.

His work has been exhibited in important international group exhibitions, including the ICC-Internationaal Cultureel Centrum in Antwerp (1975), the MoMA in New York (1992) and the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation in Venice (1994), as well as in several retrospectives: Dichiaro di essere Emilio Isgrò at the Centre for contemporary art Luigi Pecci in Prato (2008), Fratelli d’Italia at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome (2013), Isgrò at the Royal Palace, “Gallerie d’Italia” collection and House Manzoni in Milan (2016), and Emilio Isgrò at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice (2019).

In 2024 the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome inaugurates the program “Artist at GNAM: Isgrò protagonist 2024”, dedicating him a program of exhibitions and meetings with the public.

His works are present in renowned national institutions, including the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the “Quirinale” collections and the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, the Bocconi University and the Museum of the Twentieth Century in Milan, the Mart in Rovereto, as well as international collections such as the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels and the museums of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.