Enrico Baj

Enrico Baj was an Italian painter, sculptor, and essayist born in Milan in 1924. After completing classical high school, he initially studied Medicine before abandoning it to enroll in Law while simultaneously attending the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. In 1951, he held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria San Fedele in Milan, quickly establishing himself as a leading figure in the Italian avant-garde. In 1952, he co-founded the Nuclear Painting Movement with Sergio Dangelo, aiming to overcome postwar art formalism and geometric rationality. In 1953, together with Asger Jorn, he founded the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, opposing forced rationalization in art. Baj’s artistic production is notable for his innovative use of polymaterial and polychromatic collage, ranging from playful works to strongly engaged civil and critical themes, including series such as the Generals, Military Parades, and emblematic works like The Funerals of the Anarchist Pinelli and Apocalypse. In the 1980s and 1990s, he focused on cycles such as Metamorphoses and Metaphors, Tribal Masks, Felts, and Totems, using discarded materials to create ironic and colorful assemblages. Baj regularly exhibited in major international venues including Palazzo Reale in Milan, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and Musée de l’Athénée in Geneva. After his death in 2003, a major retrospective was held across several Milanese venues, cementing his role as a key figure in contemporary Italian art.