Burri trained as a doctor and only started painting in 1944, while in a prison camp in Texas. Around 1946 he moved to Rome and began to paint seriously. His first works – rags sprayed with red paint to simulate bandages soaked in blood – were born directly from his experiences as a doctor in the Italian army. He then began to produce works grouped into series based on the material used. The works of the first series (c. 1953) were made of raw fabric sewn together. After 1956 he employed thin pieces of burnt wood and layers of polyethylene in which holes were punched, creating a rich spatial network within the layers of plastic. The humble and sometimes crude materials used in these works contrast effectively with their elegant design, and the easily destroyed materials form a perforated net over an imposing background field. In his series of metalwork done after 1959, however, the solid material completely encloses the background field, although the metal is hammered from behind as if the imprisoned field was trying to break out.
Investment Valuation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
But how much is his work worth?
Some of the latest awards:
Cover, 1953/54 - Mixed technique/canvas/panneau (25,8 x 38,29 cm).
Clearing price: €125.000 Starting price: €125.000 Estimate: €150.000 – €250.000 – Fabiani Arte, 09/02/2020Montecatini Terme, Italy
Exposure: "Alberto Burri and Davide D'Elia: cracks, fires, molds" Bibo's place, Todi, March - July 2015.
Without title, 1961/71 – Mixed technique (papier acrylique peinture, combustion)/papier/contreplaqué (59 x 63,7 cm)
Clearing price: €220.000 Estimate: €220.000 – €320.000 Farsetti, 30/11/2019Prato PO, Italy
Signed Dated Dedic. top left Notes: General catalogue, volume II, Painting 1958-1978, edited by Bruno Corà, 2015, p. 98, plate. 872; General catalogue, volume VI, Chronological repertoire 1945-1994, 2015, p. 143, no. i61711Origin: SI Holding Collection, Milan – Private collection.
Sack, 1953 – Mixed technique (burlap, fabric, oil, gold and Vinavil)/canvas (99,8 x 86 cm).
Clearing price: €4.322.706 (£3.850.000) Price including charges: €5.137.844 (£4.576.000) Estimate: €3.368.342 – €5.613.903 (£3.000.000 – £5.000.000) Christie's , 04/10/2019London, United Kingdom
Signed dated 'BURRI 53' lower rightOrigin: H. Rubinstein Collection, New York (acquired directly from the artist in 1953). Goose Gallery, Rome. Private Collection, Japan, acquired around 1980Exposure: Rome, Galleria dell'Obelisco, Twenty imaginary view of the American Scene by twenty young Italian Artists, 1953 (illustrated in color and titled Jazz, unpaged). This exhibition later traveled to Capri, Casa Cerio and New York, Helena Rubinstein Collection. Saint Louis, City Art Museum of St. Louis, Contemporary Italian Art: Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, 1955, no. 16 (illustrated, titled Jazz and dated 1954, p. 9). This exhibition later traveled to Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Rome, Galleria Editalia, Qui arte contemporanea ten years, 1976–1977.
Red Plastic, 1963 – Mixed technique (plastic, acrylic & combustion)/canvas (59,7 x 52 cm).
Clearing price: €1.915.925 (£1.700.000) Price including charges: €2.316.015 (£2.055.000) Estimate: €1.577.820 – €2.028.626 (£1.400.000 – £1.800.000) Sotheby's, 03/10/2019London, United Kingdom. Signed dated “Burri 63” / Verso Notes: Burri: Two Works from an Important Private Italian Collection Sarteanesi 766; Corà, II, 931 & VI, i. 6324Origin: The Artist; Rubiu Collection, Rome (acquired from the above); Acquired from the above by the present owner in the 1980sExposure: Siena, Palazzo Pubblico, 1989.
bianco, 1954 – Mixed technique (huile, pierre ponce, vinavil)/cellotex (42 x 39,5 cm).
Clearing price: €384.000 Price including expenses: €490.000 Estimate: €300.000 – €500.000 Christie's , 03/04/2019Milan, Italy
Signed upper rightOrigin: Given by the artist to the current owner's father in 1954Exposure: Florence, Galleria Pananti Archivio del Novecento, Alberto Burri from a private collection, four unpublished works, multiplexes, cretti and serigraphs, 2012, cat., (illustrated with title Untitled and dated XNUMXs)
