SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Based in Montjustin from the spring of 1947, Serge Fiorio lived and painted there until his death in 2011; his arrival with his family at the village’s former presbytery marks a period in which he painted more and more. His path as a self-taught painter took shape in Taninges, where his family settled in 1924: from the age of fourteen, he worked alongside labourers, whom he drew and later painted. Carnival celebrations also became a recurring theme in his work. In 1936, he left quarry work and set himself up as a photographer in order to devote more time to painting.
Several listed works bear witness to his early subjects: La Famille ouvrière (1933), Les Quatre âges de la vie (1934) and Portrait de Jean Giono (1934). During the war, he ran a farm with his brother Aldo in Campsas, in Tarn-et-Garonne, and helped the local Resistance. It was there that he painted La Mort du camarade, a large canvas described as a modern Pietà and dated 1950 in the list of works. A presentation of his work describes his Provençal landscapes as idealised and colourful, and his scenes of everyday life as tinged with surrealism. Other listed works include La Grande Souche (1960), Carnaval en forêt (1970), Les Quatre saisons (1981) and Les Hauts Plateaux (1981).
In 1983, Taninges hosted the first retrospective of his work, including works dating from 1932. In 1992, L’Itinéraire was published, the first art book devoted entirely to his work, by the éditions Le Poivre d’Âne, with a biography by André Lombard and a foreword by Pierre Magnan. In July 2011, the year of his death, a book devoted to his life and work was published, bringing together Pour saluer Fiorio by André Lombard and Rêver avec Serge Fiorio by Claude-Henri Rocquet. Exhibitions devoted to him were subsequently held at the médiathèque Lucien Jacques in Gréoux-les-Bains in 2015, and at the Musée de Forcalquier in 2021.
This profile brings together identity references for Serge Fiorio and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
3 references are documented at Germann, Piguet. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Oil on Pavatex
Paysage
huile sur pavatex
Catalogue period : 2022-06-01 — 2022-06-15
Published result : 300 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 400–600
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Oil on canvas
La conversation, 1972
Öl auf Leinwand.
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
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Oil on panel
Montjustin, Basses Alpes,
huile sur panneau
Catalogue period : 2013-09-30
Published result : 280 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 300–500
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
