SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Afro Basaldella (1912–1976) develops his pictorial language from expressionist and post-Cubist explorations towards abstraction, to which he turns after the Second World War. His career encompasses painting, teaching and the creation of large-scale murals, in settings ranging from Paris to New York and California. After his first exhibition at the age of sixteen, two years later he receives, together with his brother Dino, a scholarship funded by the Marangoni Arts Foundation of Udine to study art in Rome. In 1933, he exhibits at the Galleria del Milione in Milan with Robert Bosisio, Fred Pittino and Taiuti. He takes part in the Rome Quadriennale in 1935 and presents his work several times at the Venice Biennale. In 1937, he creates large murals with Corrado Cagli for the Paris World's Fair.
From 1940, the sources characterise his painting as expressionist and post-Cubist. After the war, he turns towards an abstraction described as analytical and synthetic, with reference to Cubism. This development marks the shift from a vocabulary still linked to representation to an abstract exploration, without the sources reducing it to a single mode. In 1941, he obtains a teaching position in mosaic painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. He travels to New York in 1950, where he is in contact with Arshile Gorky. He takes part in the Gruppo degli Otto, alongside, among others, Mattia Moreni, Antonio Corpora and Emilio Vedova. In 1956, he receives a distinction or an award at the Venice Biennale.
In 1957, he teaches for eight months at Mills College in Oakland. During this residency, he creates a mural entitled The Garden of Hope for UNESCO House in Paris. A monograph on his work by James Johnson Sweeney is published in 1961. After his death, the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome dedicates a retrospective to him in 1978. He dies in Zurich on 24 July 1976.
This profile brings together identity references for Afro Basaldella and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
1 references are documented at Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Ink, gouache and coloured chalk on paper
Ohne Titel, 1964
Tusche, Gouache und Farbkreide auf Papier
Catalogue period : 2023-06-21
Published result : 1484 CHF
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : CHF 1200–1800
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
