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Ruggero Falanga (Taormina, 1914 – Milan, 1970) was an Italian painter active in the second half of the twentieth century. His artistic research developed between Sicily and Milan, where he came into contact with key figures of contemporary criticism and spirituality, such as Elio Vittorini and Salvatore Quasimodo.[https://www.ruggerofalanga.it/cagliari-1988-perche-credo-nel-arte-di-ruggero-falanga/ Cagliari, 1988 – Perché credo nell’arte di Ruggero Falanga][https://www.ruggerofalanga.it/palazzo-strozzi-1978-io-cerco-qualcosa-che-e-come-la-luce-di-dio/ Palazzo Strozzi, 1978 – “Io cerco qualcosa che è come la luce di Dio”]

Falanga was born in Taormina in 1914. After World War II, he moved to Turin, where he exhibited at the Galleria Gissi (1947, 1950, 1952) with presentations by art critic Angelo Dragone, and at the Circolo degli Artisti. He took part in the 105th National Art Exhibition – Promotrice Torinese (1949) at Palazzo Chiablese. He returned to the Gissi Gallery for a solo exhibition in 1958.Marco Valsecchi, Umbro Apollonio, Panorama dell'arte italiana 1951.

In Milan, he formed close connections with critic Giorgio Kaisserlian and was supported by Father Arcangelo Favaro, director of the San Fedele Gallery, where he exhibited in 1960, 1963, and 1969. In 1961, he held a solo exhibition at Galleria Il Milione, with a catalogue essay by Raffaele De Grada.AA.VV., Dizionario E.S.A. Gli anni '60 e '80 dell'arte italiana, Vol. IX.

In 1978, the art historian Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti curated a major retrospective of Falanga’s work at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.Exhibition catalogue, Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 1978. Two more retrospectives followed: in 1986 in Taormina, and in 1988 at the Municipal Art Gallery in Cagliari, both with essays by Raffaele De Grada.

In 1971, a group of works was donated to the Province of Turin and allocated to the Giuseppe Grosso Library of History and Culture of Piedmont. A self-portrait by Falanga was included in the Raimondo Rezzonico collection of self-portraits and was added to the Uffizi Gallery in 2005 through donation.I modelli di Narciso. La collezione d'autoritratto di Raimondo Rezzonico agli Uffizi, 2006. His works are also documented in the General Catalogue of Cultural Heritage (Torino, Palazzo Cisterna)[https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/0100210723 Italian Cultural Heritage Catalogue] and in the permanent collection of the MAN Museum in Nuoro.[https://museoman.portaleservizipa.it/ Collezione Museo MAN, Nuoro]

Falanga’s work is marked by a deep investigation of the spiritual condition of the modern artist. One of his most famous quotes, written on a wall in his home in Via Solferino, Milan, reads: “I am looking for something that is like the light of God.”[https://www.ruggerofalanga.it/palazzo-strozzi-1978-io-cerco-qualcosa-che-e-come-la-luce-di-dio/ Palazzo Strozzi – Ruggero Falanga]

Critics such as Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Raffaele De Grada, Geoffrey Hinton, and Father Favaro identified in his painting a profound ethical, existential, and spiritual expression. Falanga has been described as a “Sicilian intellectual in Milan” and a non-market-oriented artist pursuing a language of inner truth.

One of Falanga’s early artistic reflections was: “I don’t believe in instinct as the absolute generator of a work of art, only as a first impulse. Then comes thought, and through all channels of our personality comes a process that is human, and the work, almost as if smelling of earth.”

Falanga often focused on "alternative forms": groupings of symbolic or figurative motifs in constant evolution, influenced by primitive, totemic, or archaic sources, especially from Pre-Columbian art, ancient Sicily, and Africa. His pictorial language has been compared to Jean Dubuffet, Hundertwasser, Fautrier, and Wols.

In a 1988 retrospective, De Grada recalled his first meeting with Falanga, suggested by Elio Vittorini, not for shared origin but for artistic affinity. Vittorini recognized in Falanga an example of “non-realist” art – spiritual and primordial in nature.[https://www.ruggerofalanga.it/cagliari-1988-perche-credo-nel-arte-di-ruggero-falanga/ De Grada, Cagliari 1988 – Catalogue essay]

• Galleria Gissi, Turin – 1947, 1950, 1952 (solo shows, text by Angelo Dragone)
• Circolo degli Artisti, Turin – 1954 (solo, text by Bartolomeo Gallo)
• San Fedele Gallery, Milan – 1960, 1963, 1969 (solo shows, curated by Father Favaro)
• Il Milione Gallery, Milan – 1961 (solo, text by Raffaele De Grada)
• Palazzo Strozzi, Florence – 1978 (retrospective curated by C.L. Ragghianti)

Falanga was born in Taormina in 1914. After World War II, he moved to Turin, where he exhibited at the Galleria Gissi (1947, 1950, 1952) with presentations by art critic Angelo Dragone, and at the Circolo degli Artisti. He took part in the 105th National Art Exhibition – Promotrice Torinese (1949) at Palazzo Chiablese. He returned to the Gissi Gallery for a solo exhibition in 1958.Marco Valsecchi, Umbro Apollonio, Panorama dell'arte italiana 1951.

In Milan, he formed close connections with critic Giorgio Kaisserlian and was supported by Father Arcangelo Favaro, director of the San Fedele Gallery, where he exhibited in 1960, 1963, and 1969. In 1961, he held a solo exhibition at Galleria Il Milione, with a catalogue essay by Raffaele De Grada.AA.VV., Dizionario E.S.A. Gli anni '60 e '80 dell'arte italiana, Vol. IX.

In 1978, the art historian Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti curated a major retrospective of Falanga’s work at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.Exhibition catalogue, Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 1978. Two more retrospectives followed: in 1986 in Taormina, and in 1988 at the Municipal Art Gallery in Cagliari, both with essays by Raffaele De Grada.

In 1971, a group of works was donated to the Province of Turin and allocated to the Giuseppe Grosso Library of History and Culture of Piedmont. A self-portrait by Falanga was included in the Raimondo Rezzonico collection of self-portraits and was added to the Uffizi Gallery in 2005 through donation.I modelli di Narciso. La collezione d'autoritratto di Raimondo Rezzonico agli Uffizi, 2006. His works are also documented in the General Catalogue of Cultural Heritage (Torino, Palazzo Cisterna)[https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/0100210723 Italian Cultural Heritage Catalogue] and in the permanent collection of the MAN Museum in Nuoro.[https://museoman.portaleservizipa.it/ Collezione Museo MAN, Nuoro]

Falanga’s work is marked by a deep investigation of the spiritual condition of the modern artist. One of his most famous quotes, written on a wall in his home in Via Solferino, Milan, reads: “I am looking for something that is like the light of God.”[https://www.ruggerofalanga.it/palazzo-strozzi-1978-io-cerco-qualcosa-che-e-come-la-luce-di-dio/ Palazzo Strozzi – Ruggero Falanga]

Critics such as Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Raffaele De Grada, Geoffrey Hinton, and Father Favaro identified in his painting a profound ethical, existential, and spiritual expression. Falanga has been described as a “Sicilian intellectual in Milan” and a non-market-oriented artist pursuing a language of inner truth.

One of Falanga’s early artistic reflections was: “I don’t believe in instinct as the absolute generator of a work of art, only as a first impulse. Then comes thought, and through all channels of our personality comes a process that is human, and the work, almost as if smelling of earth.”

Falanga often focused on "alternative forms": groupings of symbolic or figurative motifs in constant evolution, influenced by primitive, totemic, or archaic sources, especially from Pre-Columbian art, ancient Sicily, and Africa. His pictorial language has been compared to Jean Dubuffet, Hundertwasser, Fautrier, and Wols.

In a 1988 retrospective, De Grada recalled his first meeting with Falanga, suggested by Elio Vittorini, not for shared origin but for artistic affinity. Vittorini recognized in Falanga an example of “non-realist” art – spiritual and primordial in nature.[https://www.ruggerofalanga.it/cagliari-1988-perche-credo-nel-arte-di-ruggero-falanga/ De Grada, Cagliari 1988 – Catalogue essay]

• Galleria Gissi, Turin – 1947, 1950, 1952 (solo shows, text by Angelo Dragone)
• Circolo degli Artisti, Turin – 1954 (solo, text by Bartolomeo Gallo)
• San Fedele Gallery, Milan – 1960, 1963, 1969 (solo shows, curated by Father Favaro)
• Il Milione Gallery, Milan – 1961 (solo, text by Raffaele De Grada)
• Palazzo Strozzi, Florence – 1978 (retrospective curated by C.L. Ragghianti)
• Ex Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Taormina – 1986 (retrospective, text by R. De Grada)
• Galleria Comunale d’Arte, Cagliari – 1988 (retrospective, text by R. De Grada)
• Casa Chironi, Nuoro – 2007 (retrospective)

• Uffizi Gallery, Florence – Self-portrait (Rezzonico collection, donation 2005)
• Biblioteca “Giuseppe Grosso”, Turin – Works donated in 1971[http://www.torinometropoli.it/... Fondo Dragone – Provincia di Torino]
• Cultural Heritage Catalogue – Works registered at Palazzo Cisterna, Torino
• MAN Museum, Nuoro – Selected works in the permanent collection

• Marco Valsecchi, Umbro Apollonio, Panorama dell’arte italiana 1951
• Torino, città viva. Da capitale a metropoli, 1880-1980, Volume 2, Seat, Turin, 1980[https://books.google.it/... Google Books – Torino città viva]
• Giorgio Falossi, Pittori e scultori italiani del ’900, Vol. 2, 1988
• AA.VV., Dizionario E.S.A. Gli anni ’60 e ’80 dell’arte italiana, Vol. IX
• A.M. Comanducci, Luigi Servolini, Dizionario Comanducci, Vol. 2
• I modelli di Narciso. La collezione d’autoritratto di Raimondo Rezzonico agli Uffizi, 2006

• [https://www.ruggerofalanga.it/ Official Website]

Category:Italian painters of the 20th century

Category:1914 births

Category:1970 deaths

Category:Contemporary artists