In the aftermath of WWII, Europe was an open wound. In the attempt to rebuild, artists rejected traditional lines of thought that had dominated prewar culture and embraced new, experimental approaches brought on by the scientific revolution. Mirroring the duality of the Atomic Age, the canvas became a place to process the horrors of war, but also the site to break ground for a new aesthetic that later revolutionized artists’ practice worldwide. Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni and Antoni Tàpies are true artistic visionaries who broke with tradition by physically violating the canvas, elevating industrial materials to the lofty heights of fine art, and ultimately reinvented the form of painting for the next generations of artists to come.
