In Città di Castello it is possible to follow the itinerary of Alberto Burri’s artistic career through the numerous works kept in Palazzo Albizzini and in the Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco, built by the will of the artist.
Alberto Burri was born in 1915 in Città di Castello and died in 1995 in Nizza. In 1940 he obtained his degree in Medical Studies. During the war, when he was taken prisoner in the concentration camp in Hereford, Texas, he started his painting career without a particular education. However, his debut was the painting of rare landscapes and still life made in 1946, after his return to Italy. The following year they were on display in the art gallery “La Margherita” in Rome. In 1948, the same museum hosted the exhibition of his first abstract paintings.
His artistic production goes from painting to sculpture, aiming to investigate the expressive quality of substances.
Palazzo Albizzini boasts the collection of Burri’s artistic production from 1948 to 1985.
The collection shows nearly 150 works in chronological order; from the early Tars (Catrami) to the Molds (Muffe), Sacks (Sacchi), Woods (Legni) and Irons (Ferri) of the ‘50s, to the Plastics (Plastiche) of the ‘60s; from the Cretti (Cracks) of the following decade to the Cellotex of the ‘70s and ‘80s and the late Multiplex. Launched in 1990, the Complesso degli Ex Seccatoi completes the collection of Palazzo Albizzini with the exhibition of the Large Cycles of painting carried out by Burri among 1979 and 1993; the section dedicated to his graphic work, launched in 2017, and the multimedia area “ BURRIDOCUMENTA” launched in 2018.